The Bhutanese cook Harka Bahadur Subba, a single father of four, was transferred to the Police General Hospital to ensure that he was given quality care under the supervision of authorities.

Subba was conscious but had a fever, suffered from exhaustion and was talking incoherently, Dr Thana Thurajen, deputy director of the Police General Hospital, said yesterday.

Thana said the man was malnourished, especially lacking in potassium, and was being given nutrition via a saline drip, while doctors were treating an inflamed leg wound.

Subba will be placed under 48-hour medical surveillance and was expected to stay in hospital for five to seven days, Thana said, adding that there were no initial indications that he had been assaulted.

The Bhutanese Embassy has already been contacted to provide an interpreter to replace a Bhutanese volunteer who has been assisting authorities.

Subba was found lying unconscious in front of a sukiyaki shop on Sai Luad Road in Tambon Paknam of Samut Prakan’s Muang district, according to Samut Prakan police.

The man appeared to be a vagabond, and when the hospital was called on Wednesday evening, an ambulance picked him up and he was admitted to the in-patient ward without being identified because he cannot speak Thai or English. The hospital alerted police, who confirmed that he was the missing Bhutanese man.

The Bhutanese Embassy said Subba, a cook attending the Damphu Central School, disappeared from the Sena Place Hotel in Phya Thai district at about 6am on January 23. He came to Bangkok with nine other teachers and cooks to attend a training session and may have become lost and unable to find his hotel.