Phuket Island to be pilot for tourist safety advice : 29th June 2012

MOTS permanent secretary, Suwat Sidthilaw, deputy permanent secretary Thanitta Savetsila Maneechote, and Tourist Police commander Police Major-General Adis Ngamchitsuksri launched the project, the Bureau of Tourist Assistance and Fraud Prevention, late last week.
Mr Suwat said: “The campaign will provide tourists with important tips on how to avoid risks. Tourists are also encouraged to file complaints at the new bureau.”
Around 70 per cent of tourists in Thailand are travelling without the support of travel agencies and have no point of reference if they encounter a problem.
The “how to avoid risk” campaign is being implemented at Patong Beach and seven other pilot sites: Bangkok’s Khao San Rd; Ayutthaya’s floating market; Hua Hin; the ferry wharf on Koh Samui; Haad Yai’s Santisuk market; the walking street in Pai; and Chiang Mai’s walking street.
One part of the announcement by Gen Adis was puzzling. He said, “The Tourist Police will continue to step up safety for visitors in Thailand.
“A network of volunteers, who are taxi and tuk tuk drivers, have joined the police to disseminate safety information to travellers.”
Tourists and residents of the island alike view taxi and tuk-tuk drivers with a great deal of suspicion as they are often the cause of cheating and have been involved in many violent incidents, so it seems doubtful that they could be used as a confidence-building channel or to provide accurate information on safety to foreigners.
Phuket is more safety .

Medical teams practice halting flu at Phuket airport @ June 14th 2012

The training session was aimed at dealing with all subtypes of HxNy influenza, which includes such killers as Spanish flu, Asian flu, bird flu and swine flu.
Dr Wiwat Seetamanotch, a doctor with the Provincial Health Department, explained, “The training session is aimed at protecting the other passengers and Phuket.”

After the “call” came in to the control tower, the emergency medical team, wearing hazmat (hazardous material) suits prepared an area for screening passengers on the aircraft.

For this morning’s exercise, there was even an aircraft full of volunteer “passengers”.

Some of the medical team entered this and separated the passengers into green, yellow and red sectors – with green wristbands for those sitting far from the “sick” passenger, yellow for those sitting close to him, and red for the victim himself.

On the ground, both green and yellow passengers received an alcohol gel to clean their hands and a health information card, and were scanned with a Thermoscanner, which detects body temperature.

While the “red” passenger was rushed to hospital, the “yellows” were interviewed about their travels in the past 15 days, were rescreened with the Thermoscanner, underwent chest X-rays, and were then quarantined in a special negative-air-pressure room in hospital.

Finally, the medical team spray-disinfected the aircraft and the screening area in the airport.

Phuket grabs two more golds

The Phuket island today retained its seventh place in the medal standings of the National Youth Games, capturing two more gold medals.

In the final of the 39-42 kilo class of the Pencak Silat competition, Sampan Thongsidam delighted the home crowd by beating Muhamin Se from Pattani 4:1 in the sport that is traditionally strongest in the deep south of Thailand.

In the girls’ 15-18 years tennis finals, Phuket’s Butsarin Raktaengam repeated her victory in the Uttraradit Games four years ago by overpowering Rongroong Leenabanjong from Bangkok in straight sets, 6:4, 6:3.

The Phuket soft tennis team, meanwhile, racked up another three silver medals.

With a few more finals still to be played tomorrow (June 5), Phuket now has 17 gold, 15 silver and 25 bronze medals.
Bangkok still leads the medal table with 96 gold, 65 silver and 55 bronze medals, followed by Chiang Mai (27, 35, 37) and Chonburi (26, 29, 31).
But today the National Youth Games finish .

New 'no swimming' sign in 7 languages at Karon Beach Phuket , June 6th ,2012

PHUKET 2012 : Today Karon Municipality has designed new warning signs in seven languages with the aim of preventing tourists from drowning .
Fifteen signs will be erected on Kata and Karon beaches giving warnings in Thai, Chinese, English, Russian, French, Korean and German.

The sign includes a message, though in English only, from Karon Mayor Thawee Thongcham, which says, “The monsoon season has started and on certain days the sea can be very dangerous.

“Whenever the red flag is placed, we urge you not to swim in the sea as there are invisible undercurrents which are almost impossible to detect from the shore.

“Too many accidents occur every year on the Andaman Sea beaches and we cannot assume any responsibility in the case of accidents.”

The chief of the Karon Municipality Tourist Rescue Center, Suphachai Janpetch, said he is still worried about tourists who have no experience of rip currents in the water off Phuket.

They want to protect the toursit from the beach .