Chulalongkorn Hospital to resume normal outpatient services Thursday

BANGKOK, May 4 – King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital will provide normal services for outpatients Thursday (May 6) and gradually return patients to its Henri Dunant Road facility tomorrow, the hospital's director said Tuesday.

Following Tuesday’s meeting of Chulalongkorn Hospital executives, Dr Adisorn Patradul, hospital director, said the general clinic for outpatients will be resumed at Bhor Por Ror Building during office hours (8am-4pm).

The director said that the hospital will not await the anti-government protesters’ stance on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s proposed national reconciliation road map because many patients have queued up, waiting to
receive medical treatment.

Meanwhile, transferred patients will gradually move back to the hospital on Wednesday and stay at buildings along Henri Dunant Road.

The services on HM Queen Sirikit Building, Bhor Por Ror Building  and Medicine Building along Ratchadamri Road remain suspended due to safety concerns.

However, the emergency ward and delivery room are scheduled to operate services at their normal building on Ratchadamri Road around the clock as usual.

Services will be provided for only critical and emergency patients.

“If Red Shirts accept the prime minister’s road map and end the protest, the hospital will resume full operation immediately,” the hospital director said.

Regarding the extended service clinics, Dr Adisorn said that the hospital must monitor the situation until Sunday before deciding when the services will be offerred.

Dr Adisorn also said that hospital management will assess the situation before deciding whether to transfer the Supreme Patriarch, the Sangharaja, who was temporarily moved to Siriraj Hospital, as Chulalongkorn Hospital's Priest's Building is near Ratchadamri Road (which the protesters have been occupying).

Chulalongkorn Hospital, near the epicentre of the Red Shirt anti-government protests, suspended services for outpatients and transferred over 100 patients to other hospitals April 30 after protesters forced their way into the hospital April 29.

A group of anti-government Red Shirts led by one of the leaders, Payap Panket stormed the hospital, searching for troops after receiving information indicating that 200-300 military personnel were on hospital premises preparing to disperse the protesters.

Mr Payap pushed his Red Shirts into Chulalongkorn Hospital, forcing hospital authorities to make way for them to conduct a search of the premises, but the intruders found no troops. Two suspects were detained by the protesters, but were later found to be construction workers. (TNA)
By: MCOT