IN BRIEF
health services
Give medical attention to migrants, both legal and illegal, says Mongkol
Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla yesterday instructed health authorities to offer medical services to foreign workers, including those here illegally, on humanitarian grounds.
"Also, if they are healthy they will not pass diseases to Thais," Mongkol said while inspecting a hospital in this northern border province. Mae Hong Son public-health chief Dr Suwat Kittidilokkul said his office spent more than Bt20 million each year on providing medical treatment to alien workers. He said there were 96,591 such workers in the province and only 60 per cent of them had registered themselves properly and received medical coverage. "We have to take care of the rest," he said. Suwat said a lack of adequate budget was affecting the extensive promotion of good health and disease prevention in the province. Mongkol yesterday urged all provinces, especially those on the border, to watch for and take preventive measures against malaria, elephantiasis, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/Aids, water- and food-borne diseases, and diseases that can be prevented by vaccination. The Public Health Ministry's units treated 17,117 alien workers from January 1 to October 31, of whom 24 died. - The Nation.
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