His Majesty the King's Speech

On Monday, June 2, 1997, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand gave an address to some 300 people on the subject of leprosy. The address took place at the Dusitdalai Building in Chitrlada Palace in Bangkok.

Among the members of the audience were members of the Phud Hong Leper Foundation, a charitable organisation run by the Bangkok Post newspaper. Foundation secretary Anussorn Thavisin reports on His Majesty's speech.

His Majesty told of how 40 years ago the then director-general of the Thai Department of Health had commented on the large number of lepers in Thailand. The director-general told His Majesty that with adequate support, leprosy can be eliminated from Thailand within 10 years.

The director-general said that he needed about one million baht to train personnel and to put up 3-4 new buildings in Phra Pradaeng district on the outskirt of Bangkok. His Majesty told the director-general that he had no money yet, but believed that it could be raised, if the project was started slowly, one step at a time. Within the year, His Majesty handed over about 300,000 baht to start the project.

A few years later, His Majesty laid the foundation for the Ratchapracha Samasai project and more help arrived.

The 10 years has turned to 40, but we have now more or less eliminated leprosy from Thailand with only 0.5 persons in every 10,000 still having leprosy, His Majesty said.

At the beginning, His Majesty said, the biggest difficulty was in overcoming the stigma attached to leprosy itself. Lepers felt unwanted and dared not go for treatment.

To overcome this, the programme started by educating every one that leprosy can be treated, that it is not highly contagious and not a problem if treated promptly. The programme gave the leprosy patients moral support and the strength to seek treatment without fear.

The next problem was the children. Where could they go for education? The Ministry of Public Health then denied that it was their responsibility, while the Ministry of Education was also not interested in setting up a school especially for the children of leprosy patients.

The answer was for the Ratchapracha Samasai Foundation to establish its own school near the leprosy colony. Thanphuying Dusdee Malakul was the strength behind the setting up of this school and about 20 children of leprosy patients found a place to study.

But the school also accept other students. Eventually it became well accepted and now has over 1,000 students. From a school built to accommodate 20 children of lepers, it is now a leading school in the area and is officially recognised by the Thai Ministry of Education.

His Majesty reminded the audience that while there has been success, they must not forget the 0.5 person in 10,000 who still has leprosy. Their job has not yet ended.

In this age of globalisation there is still the possibility of infection from abroad, with hundreds of thousands of foreigners working in Thailand, legally and illegally. They can therefore still experience an upsurge and cannot cease their efforts now.