The Public Health Ministry has opened an emergency operations centre (EOC) in Tak province in a bid to block cholera, which is spreading in the adjacent city of Shwe Kokko in Myanmar. Two cases so far have been recorded in Tak.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, permanent secretary for public health, said on Sunday that the public health office of Tak now functioned as the EOC and Dr Supachok Wechaphanphesat, acting health inspector-general, was its commander.
The EOC was watching for possible cholera cases in border communities, factories and refugee camps, he said.
The centre was also monitoring the quality of drinking water, advising people and migrants on hygiene, supervising food fairs and vendors, and preparing medical supplies including rapid test kits to cope with cholera, he said.
“Mae Ramat and Mae Sot districts of Tak are at high risk because they stand opposite Shwe Kokko and there are many factories and communities of migrants. During New Year holidays people will have parties and share meals,” Dr Opas said.
According to the permanent secretary for health, there have been about 200 cholera cases in Shwe Kokko, with two fatalities. There have been two cholera cases in Mae Sot district.
It was reported that the two cases were admitted to Mae Sot Hospital. Officials assumed a pregnant woman from Myanmar who had cholera gave birth on the Thai side of the border, and her Myanmar relative who lived in Tak visited her and contracted the disease.
Soldiers were actively patrolling the border in Mae Ramat and Mae Sot districts to block illegal immigration through natural border crossings for the time being. Tak authorities provided their Shwe Kokko counterparts with medical supplies as requested to support disease control there.
Thais living near the border said that most cholera cases in Shwe Kokko were Chinese employers and their Myanmar workers.
Dr Supachok, the commander of the EOC in Tak, said two cholera cases in the province were a man and a woman from Myanmar who regularly crossed the border to work in Tak. Both had mild symptoms and one of them was discharged from hospital.
He advised people to keep hygiene and eat well-cooked food to protect themselves from cholera.
