OPINION

Apply the constitution

Re: "Thamanat wins PM's backing", (BP, Sept 11).

Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Capt Thamanat Prompow whose shady past is the talk of the town, had earlier suggested the media check his record with the Australian courts, and the Sydney Morning Herald did just that, resulting in a scandalous article.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, his deputies Prawit Wongsuwon and Wissanu Krea-ngam should follow the oath of office which they just took and apply Section 160 (7) of the constitution, which prohibits those who've been sentenced to prison from taking up political posts, except for in cases of petty offence, negligence, or defamation.

Re: "Thamanat wins PM's backing", (BP, Sept 11).

Please remember, Mr Prime Minister, "You are what you eat". The public has become far more sophisticated, and memories of past misdeeds are longer. Don't think the public is too keen to forgive or forget. One day you will be taken by surprise over this Thamanat affair, as you will be taken with your General "Rolex" affair. No one completely forgets something. It is merely pushed into the back of the mind. But it can quickly be recalled and ignite a firestorm when you least expect it. You clamour for an end to corruption and you claim to surround yourself with "clean" ministers. But what you say, and what you do are entirely different.

What do you mean "Thamanat denies being key gang member"? He works for the government, doesn't he? Nothing more needs to be said.

My jaw dropped when I read that a certain review rated Thailand as having the 6th best medical care in the world (BP, Sept 10). I'm just a lowly layman, but my travels around the world including to countries in Eastern Europe have led me to get far better medical care than a patient would find in Thailand.

Gouge-a-nomics are the hallmark of Thai medicine. I went to a government hospital to try to get an operation. The government facility refused to treat me because I was not a Thai citizen.

To make matters worse, they demanded that I stay at the most expensive hospital in Thailand and take a US$300-a-night (9,141 baht) private room. I went to India and had the operation done for a third of the price quoted to me in Thailand. My surgeon was a former army doctor who had won a national medical award.

India is known as the "pharmacy to the world". I've shown Thai pharmacies and hospitals modern medications that I brought from India, and in response they gave me a blank stare, saying that such medicines simply could not be found in Thailand.

A few years ago, I had to spend the night in a hospital in Pattaya. The cost: US$600 for one night. (In 2016 I was treated in a state-of-the-art, hyper-clean hospital in Eastern Europe for $100 per night.) I asked the Thai nurse if I could have something to eat. She told me there was "nothing available" in the hospital kitchen.

In the end, I had to give her 300 baht just so she could go to a nearby 7-11 and buy me some food.