Health officials contact Myanmar
The abandonment of Aids patients by Myanmar families at Ranong Hospital has prompted authorities to contact that country to locate the relatives so the patients can be returned home, a senior official said yesterday.
Ranong Health Office chief Dr Thongchai Kiratihattayakorn also revealed that the border province saw 20 deaths from Aids in the past year, including Thais and immigrant workers, mostly aged 30-34. New cases of sexually transmitted diseases, especially Aids, continued to rise. Young people aged 15 to 24 were most at risk, Thongchai said.
Muang Ranong Mayor Somboon Tikawattananont said the district had seven people living with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, mostly sex workers.
Meanwhile yesterday, the Social Security Office, the universal healthcare scheme and the civil-service healthcare scheme extended their coverage to treat HIV, Aids and chronic kidney ailments.
SSO chief Jeerasak Sukhonthachat said his office had linked its computer database to the universal health scheme’s system so when patients in the SSO or civil-service schemes retire from their jobs they can cross over to the universal healthcare scheme right away.
Jeerasak also confirmed that delays by employers in paying contributions to the SSO would not affect the workers’ rights to healthcare, and he warned that employers who fail to pay the SSO benefits could face a six-month jail term and a Bt20,000 fine.
