Emergency services on overload at royal cremation site
Mourners hoping to attend the royal cremation have been suffering with illnesses due to changes in weather as well as other factors, causing emergency services to be working around the clock.
THE PUBLIC Health Ministry dispatched medical teams to cover areas in 20-metre radiuses to take care of mourners attending the Royal Cremation ceremonies at Bangkok’s Sanam Luang area and warned people, especially the elderly and small children, about flu, diarrhoea and fainting amid the hot weather alternating with rain, according to Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn.
On the first day of the historic ceremonies, two mourners in a queue reportedly collapsed due to a stroke and heart failure and were rushed to hospital by Santi Chaiprakan Park-based medical centre staff.
Several screening points also reported ill people seeking first aid.
The head of the medical team at the ninth screening point near the Phra Pinklao Bridge reported 120 mourners had sought first aid as of noon and 18 had seen doctors due to fever, dizziness, diarrhoea and muscle aches, at around the same time as the screening point at Thammasat Chalermphrakiat Hospital reported 140 people seeking first aid.
Nationwide, a total of 4,442 medical teams were on standby, while five other teams would serve as back-ups at each public health regional office, he said.
Each province had set up emergency centres to quickly respond to crises.
Meanwhile, National Institute for Emergency Medicine secretary-general Captain Dr Atchariya Paengma advised mourners waiting around Sanam Lung to carry smelling salts and sweets to prevent fainting.
He said factors, including hot spells, chronic ailments, lack of sleep, lack of water or food, and mental stress, could cause inadequate blood supply to the brain resulting in fainting in some cases.
Source: The Nation
