Absurd disease controls show govt is clueless

Absurd disease controls show govt is clueless

As I checked in for my trip home at Brussels airport last Sunday, I wondered if it would be a once-in-a-lifetime flight. A THAI employee had told me I might end up being the only passenger on the Bangkok-bound plane that afternoon.

This wasn't a chartered flight -- I couldn't afford that.

As the ground crew closed the gate for departure, I found myself with only three -- yes, three -- other passengers who had managed to comply with a check-in directive issued last month by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. The directive requires all Thai returnees to present a "fit-to-fly" health certificate, signed by a local doctor 72 hours prior to boarding, plus a document from the Royal Thai Embassy or consulate, certifying they are flying home.

The same employee -- he was the only one on duty -- said he had to reject a few Thais who, unaware of such an illogical directive, arrived at the airport without the documents.

One woman passenger shared her plight with me. She said she had to see her doctor twice, because her first fit-to-fly certificate "expired" before her flight's boarding time.

Yes, I was lucky enough to board my flight. As a Thai citizen and a taxpayer who has dutifully contributed to the state's coffers for decades, I never thought I'd have to apply for a "visa" to come home.

In issuing such a directive, the government showed it has no idea that getting a flight back home during the Covid-19 crisis, when most airlines have suspended services, is already hard enough.

Those rolling out the directive do not know that getting a medical certificate abroad isn't as easy as in Thailand, where anyone can walk into a clinic with no appointment.

In Belgium, like several other European countries, those wishing to see a doctor must make an appointment, and it could be the next day, maybe two days, or four weeks before a date opens up. Bear in mind that this is a time when doctors are unusually busy.

I was lucky to get an appointment with my sister's doctor who agreed to see me and -- despite her astonishment -- consented to sign this unusual "fit-to-fly" certificate. Notwithstanding the fees I had to pay, I was uneasy about the fact that I had to waste her time, which she could have used to see patients, just to help me get home.

But, as I said, I feel lucky. As I wrote this, the government had just issued another unusual order, with immediate effect, which bars anyone from entering the country. What if someone gets sick? Does the government really want its people to die abroad, and transport their ashes in urns later?

Our policymakers probably think Thais who live outside of the kingdom don't deserve to come home during the Covid-19 crisis and have decided to punish them for going elsewhere. But mind you, some Thais -- like the "little ghosts", undocumented Thai workers in South Korea -- have had no choice but to leave for a better life abroad as they could hardly make ends meet here. Many others are students who wish to come home.

I was told the government believes such a directive will deter Thais from returning home, deciding to take the stiffer measure to curb the spread of the virus. Really? If it really wanted to control the outbreak, the government should have implemented strict control measures in January, when the first few cases were reported. Authorities should have not allowed anyone to breach quarantine procedures, as widely reported by the media.

My question: Is it unconstitutional for the government to bar its people from coming home? I've never heard of any country closing its borders to its own people. On the contrary, other governments welcome their people home, no matter how sick they are.

I am aware that the number of infections and the death toll are rising drastically, and health authorities may feel the situation is beyond their capacity. But would we have reached this point if the government had taken the situation more seriously and in a more timely fashion in the first place? It did not do that seemingly because it was obsessed with image and tourism revenue.

The blunders only suggest, yet again, that the government does not really care about the outbreak's consequences on its people, as it keeps solving the problems in the wrong way. A case in point is the decision by the Bangkok governor to close all public parks, as he does not want people to gather. Why can't he keep the parks open, but prohibit gatherings of more than two people instead?

I doubt if the 10pm-4am "curfew" imposed by the government will ever work in curbing the spread of Covid-19 in Thailand. Why can't the government just convince businesses and state agencies to implement work-from-home policies instead and provide people with what they need for a successful shift? If his doesn't happen, we will just be fighting a losing battle.

Sirinya Wattanasukchai

Columnist

Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a columnist for the Bangkok Post.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (81)