Former PM moved to hospital after health scare

Thaksin was put on a helicopter heading to the hospital in Bangkok’s Pathum Wan district at around 1am Wednesday after he experienced chest tightness and could not sleep, the department’s statement said.

Medical officials found that his blood pressure spiked and he has low level of blood oxygen saturation at fingertips, the statement said, adding that correction officials will monitor him closely during the treatment.

The department on Tuesday isolated Thaksin inside the Bangkok Remand Prison’s hospital after doctors diagnosed him with four co-morbidities: Ischemia, a severe lung infection, hypertension, and degenerative spine and herniated discs.

The 74-year-old was assigned to Zone 7, which is the hospital of the Bangkok Remand Prison where he would be monitored by medical staff around the clock, department director-general Aryut Sintopphan said on Tuesday.

After over 15 years of self-exile in overseas, Thailand’s 23rd former prime minister and billionaire arrived at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok on Tuesday morning on a private jet. He was taken shortly afterwards to the Supreme Court to hear the charges against him, and then transported to Bangkok Remand Prison in Chatuchak district.

The court sentenced Thaksin to three years in jail for abusing authority by ordering the Exim Bank to approve a 4-billion-baht loan to Myanmar, two years in jail for unlawfully ordering the Government Lottery Office to sell two- and three-digit lottery tickets, and five years for abusing his authority to have a concession contract of Shin Corp amended to allow it to pay excise tax for mobile phone operation services instead of concession fees.

The court said the five-year sentence will kick off after Thaksin finishes serving the three-year jail term in the first case. The two-year term can be served concurrently.