As the monsoon season unfurled its mighty downpour across the verdant landscapes of Thailand’s southern provinces, it left behind not just puddles and rivulets, but a tableau of submersion and disruption. From December 22nd to the 26th, Mother Nature unveiled her formidable force, cloaking the land in sheets of rain, provoking floods, and stirring landslides that led Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew to cast an apprehensive eye on the ensuing chaos.
On a balmy day marked by the aftermath of relentless showers, December 26 bore witness to Minister Srikaew’s somber revelation. He detailed the plight of five provinces where nature’s wrath had implacably dislodged the lives of no less than 18,402 households. The calamitous embrace of the floods has, in a melancholic twist, claimed one soul to the raging waters in Yala, inflicted injury upon another, and cast a shadow over 12 temples of healing – healthcare facilities in Narathiwat and Yala that found themselves beleaguered by the deluge.
Amidst the pandemonium, two hospitals, a district public health office, and an ensemble of nine sub-district health promotion hospitals stood stoic against the torrents. Yet, these bastions of wellbeing, six in each province, were not immune to the power of the floods, with ten of them surrendering to closure. Despite this setback, central services showcased the indefatigable human spirit with proactive dispatches of medical aid to eight cases, manifesting the compassion of 4,200 kits sent forth in solidarity.
In a vibrant display of relentless vigilance and unwavering care, the Public Health Ministry cast a protective gaze upon the afflicted, dispatching emergency medical and public health operation centres to the very heart of the turmoil, nestled in Yala and Narathiwat. From there issued forth Dr Chonnan’s resolute proclamation of readiness: “We are fully prepared to provide assistance and care to the affected people, particularly chronic patients and bedridden individuals, ensuring continuous medical attention. We are also vigilant about diseases and health hazards associated with flooding.”
The sentinel stance of the ministry took form in the articulation of strategic movements, preemptive in their crafting. Provincial health officers and facility managers received the charge to fortify their repositories with medication and medical supplies, muster medical response teams, and weave intricate webs of comprehensive contingency plans to weather the storm both before and amid its outbreak.
In the wake of the torrents’ retreat, the ministry vowed to dispatch rapid assessments, akin to reconnaissance troops, to gauge the impairments borne by healthcare facilities—those shuttered sanctuaries of solace or, now, partially functional sentinels against despair. Watchfulness extends beyond the concrete and to the intangible, ensuring that diseases lurking within stagnant waters are banished. The vigilant eye of the healthcare sentries remains peeled for those ailments that revel in the aftermath: diarrhoea’s piercing disruption, leptospirosis’ silent infiltration, athlete’s foot’s itchy conquest, and fungal skin afflictions gnawing away at one’s peace.
Moreover, the government’s compassionate embrace promises to undergird the fractured psyches of those who continue to wade through the waters of affliction. Mental health recovery is given its due reverence, with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and severe stress recognized as unseen currents that can erode the bulwarks of the human soul. They, too, will be met with the might of resolute care and unwavering compassion as the ministry holds its lantern high, guiding the way through the tempest’s shadow towards healing and hope.
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