FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Victims complain of no medicinal staff, poor facilities at shelters

Victims complain of no medicinal staff, poor facilities at shelters

Ayutthaya province resident Nuanchan Ruengchaisri, 54, and her 86-year-old mother were saved by a rescue team from the Royal Navy yesterday after being stuck for three days in their house, which was submerged in flood waters.

The pair was taken to Ayutthaya provincial city hall, which is serving as a temporary shelter for over 500 evacuees. 

“Nobody came and helped us until the Navy Royal team passed my home and I screamed for help. They broke the window and pulled my mother out from the inundated home,” Nuanchan said. “But my husband was still stuck in my home and I lost contact with him,” she added. 
 
When they arrived at the shelter the mother and daughter’s problems were still not over. Nuanchan expected to see a doctor at the temporary shelter as her mother was suffering from heart disease and pulmonary edaema. Her mother was exhausted and had not eaten anything for three days. 
“My mother was so tired but there was no doctor or medical staff at the shelter,” she said. 
Fifteen teams of medical workers, including a team from Lerdsin hospital, had been assigned by the Public Health Ministry to stand by round the clock to provide medical services to flood-affected people at the temporary shelter. 
 
A team of medical staff from Lerdsin hospital had left the shelter after finishing their mission and there were no workers from any hospital to provide medical care to flood victims. 
 
“‘They [the medical staff] left us a few minutes ago,” staff from the Royal Navy said after Nuanchan asked for care for her mother. 
 
PATIENTS GO UNATTENDED
Another Ayutthaya province resident, Prung Meeniam, 69, and his wife who was suffering a broken leg, were also taken to the shelter by the Royal Navy rescue team. But when they arrived there was no registration for flood-affected victims and no medical workers to care for his wife. “I did not bring anything with me. Just my wife and I,” he said. 
 
Prung and his wife were among flood victims stuck in their houses who had been waiting for rescue for three days. 
“We had no food and drinking water. So I decided to leave my home and ask for help but when we arrived at the temporary shelter, there was no medical workers to help my wife,” he said. 
Only five folding camp beds had been set up at the medical units and there were not sufficient toilets. 
Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri has instructed Ayutthaya provincial governor Witthaya Piewphong to manage the shelter better. 
 
“You have to know when your teams take people from their home to the temporary shelter.
 
Medical workers should stand-by around the clock. Don’t ever leave them like this,” he said. 
 
“ If you don’t want to work you can take leave,” he told the Ayutthaya provincial governor during a meeting with senior officials on Monday night. 
 
“Elderly people and patients with chronic disease, especially those suffering from renal failure, should be taken to the temporary shelter,” Witthaya said, adding that the province’s authorities should prepare facilities for the elderly and the chronically ill. 
 
LACK OF MEDICATION, VOLUNTEERS
Dr Prakaitip Susilprat, a physician providing care at another temporary shelter near city hall, said there were not enough medical workers and medicine for over 2,000 flood-affected victims living in the shelter. 
 
“There will be only enough medicine for the next three days,” she said. 
 
“We need adult diapers for elderly people as they cannot help themselves,” she added. 
 
Prakaitip said most medical workers at the temporary shelter lived in Ayutthaya province. Some were afraid as their homes were also affected by flooding. 
 
“That’s why we need volunteers and medical workers from other areas not affected by the floods to help us,” she said.
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