OPINION

Greying gracefully

Re: "Liberal immigration policies needed", (Opinion, Nov 27).

Thailand will soon witness a declining population and a major demographic crisis with respect to its labour force and care for the aged. It is already hugely dependent on migrant labour from neighbouring countries and the situation will become even more critical.

Khun Wasant Techawongtham provides the obvious solution to the crisis in calling for more liberal immigration policies. But can Thailand change its approaches and attitudes toward foreign workers in time to meet the challenge?

Instead of illegally smuggling untold numbers of migrant workers into the country, a system needs to be established that makes it more attractive to businesses to hire legal immigrants than to opt for illegal migrants.

For the escalating demand for geriatric care, countries like the Philippines, which has a huge number of highly trained caregivers, could supply the skilled professionals needed.

For the enlightened immigration policies that Khun Wasant recommends to become reality, government leaders will need to shift from stoking xenophobia among the Thai population and instead focus on changing attitudes among Thais in terms of how they perceive and treat foreign workers.

Re: "Its Nok s own fault", (PostBag, Dec 3).

I would have to agree with the above individual that if Nok Air is not having many customers at this juncture, it is their own fault.

I too in the past have had difficulty in reaching an agent at Nok s Customer Service; either no one answered, or if they did, I had to wait for at least 20 minutes and sometimes the agent could barely speak English!

Basically, what I have learned throughout the years is you get what you paid for. While I have not used Thai Airways for a few years, what I do remember from using it previously was that I could easily change flights and book a new reservation using the same ticket multiple times without having to pay a fee, or just a small one, while a discount airline such as Nok Air requires one to buy a new ticket!

So in the end, even though a ticket from a discount airline is often cheaper than is one from a normal air company, it actually costs more using the former service if one needs to cancel a flight and book a new one.

In June I paid 1,250 baht deposit to a private hospital in Rayong for a Moderna booster jab, which was scheduled for October.

I needed the booster because the two Sinovac jabs I received here will not be recognised by Australia, hindering my plans for a holiday back home in the foreseeable future.

Now it is December, and still no sign of when the hospital will honour its contract.

I tried emailing it and then telephoning, only to be put on hold for 20 minutes, at which stage the call cut out. In the end, I went to the hospital to make enquiries.

But still the hospital cannot tell me when I will receive the Moderna jab.

And, I was informed, there will be no refund of the deposit.

What other business or service could refuse a refund when it had obviously failed to deliver the goods?

I only hope the ethics of the medical and nursing staff at the hospital are better than the ethics of its financial administrators.