Medical teams on standby for Royal Funeral
Medical teams and qualified first-aid volunteers will provide assistance to people attending the Royal Cremation of HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Sanam Luang and the adjacent Grand Palace, as well as at designate sites nationwide, according to Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn.
Such services would be provided from October 24 until the end of the cremation ceremony, he said.
Dr Sopon Mekthon, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, said the Public Health Emergency Response Division had been assigned to open a central public health emergency operation centre (EOC) during the Royal Cremation. The Department of Medical Services (DMS) would coordinate with hospitals to provide manpower for medical treatment and public health services.
Teams would be stationed at 21 main service points in Bangkok and the vicinity and 113 designated sites to collect funeral flowers, including Buddhamonthon Park in Nakhon Pathom and King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. At each province during the same period a provincial public health office head would open an EOC to manage medical services provided at each of the designated sites to collect funeral flowers.
The already-running joint operation centre for medical and public health has so far provided medical and first-aid services to 3.2 million people who visited the Grand Palace’s Dusit Maha Prasart Throne Hall to pay respects before the Royal Urn. It will continue services until September 30 before its personnel would be moved to work to the EOC in central Bangkok.