Border disease patrols
The Public Health Ministry ordered that three contagious diseases be closely monitored along the border region in Ranong province as the establishment of the Asean Community will encourage the movement of more people in the future.
Dr Sopon Mekthon, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, said the ministry has asked hospitals and clinics in the Thai–Myanmar border area at Ranong to put in place preventive measures to stop the spread of tuberculosis, cholera and malaria from Myanmar, which may occur more frequently in the future.
Sopon said many patients with these three infective diseases are identified every year by having foreign workers as carriers, so it is possible that the infection rate may rise soon as more people will be able to travel more freely across the border.
He also noted that the ministry has increased the budget to enlarge the hospitals in border area to prepare for more patients in the future.
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