A family in Buri Ram province is calling for help after little has been done to punish the rapist of a 14-year-old girl, who is now seven months pregnant.
The girl, who reportedly suffers from mental damage, has been living with her uncle and aunt after her parents separated.
Her guardians told reporters on Wednesday (August 26) their niece had been raped by a 65-year-old neighbour called Chai and that they only realised this when her pregnancy started showing five months later.
The uncle and aunt said they filed a police report two months ago, but nothing has been done since.
Upon visiting Chai’s home nearby, his wife told reporters that the allegation was true as he had confessed to raping the girl because she usually came over to ask for food.
Meanwhile, Chai said he had raped the girl several times as a punishment for stealing his money, adding that he will take responsibility by adopting the child.
However, the girl’s uncle and aunt have refused the offer and want legal action to be taken against the man.
Four political activists, namely human-rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, Suwanna Tanlek, Parit Chiwarak and Piyarat Jongthep, visited the Nang Loeng Police Station in Bangkok on Tuesday (August 25) to acknowledge charges related to their protest outside Army headquarters on July 20.
They were accused of violating the Emergency Decree, Road Traffic Act and Controlling Public Advertisement by Sound Amplifier Act.
Arnon Nampa
Arnon, meanwhile, was presented with an arrest warrant for violating bail conditions and delivering speeches at a protest in Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus on August 10.
The lawyer was escorted to Pathum Thani’s Khlong Luang station under maximum security.
A man and wife were arrested on Tuesday (August 25) for allegedly robbing a bank in Nakhon Pathom.
Police in Muang district were told on Tuesday morning that the local Government Savings’ Bank branch had been robbed, and arrived to find shattered windows and glass on the floor.
Eyewitnesses said they had seen the couple walk into the bank, but paid no attention thinking they may want to use the ATMs.
Police later hunted down the suspects, 35-year-old Thipawan Pinthong and 39-year-old Visut Saengkanchana, and arrested them. The husband and wife had apparently robbed the bank to fill their four piggy banks.
During interrogation, police learned that the couple is unemployed and the wife, Thipawan, may be mentally challenged. The couple were initially charged of invasion, robbery and destroying the bank’s property.
The Government Housing Bank (GHB) has launched measures to help customers affected by tropical storm Higos when it hit northern and northeastern provinces earlier this month.
“The storm resulted flash floods and runoff that damaged many houses, which require immediate repairs,” bank president Chatchai Sirilai said today (August 26).
“The GHB therefore launched the ‘Loan for Home Repair from Natural Disaster 2020’ scheme, which will use Bt100 million in leftover funds prepared for victims of tropical storm Sinlaku.”
The measures are as follow:
1. Customers whose houses were used as collateral for loans with the bank but were damaged by the floods will pay zero per cent interest for four months, 3.65 per cent interest for months 5 to 16, 4.15 per cent interest for months 17-24, and 5.15 per cent interest until the end of the 3rd year. From 4th year onwards the interest will be at MRR-1.
2. Customers whose collateral was damaged by the floods can apply for a new or additional loan of up to Bt1 million to fix the building at maximum and fixed interest rate of 3 per cent annually for three years. After that the interest will be at MRR-1.
3. Customers whose collateral was damaged by the floods can apply for debt composition for up to 1 year and four months with four months grace period. From months 5 to 16 interest will be 1 per cent annually.
4. Customers whose income channels have been affected by the flood can apply for debt composition for maximum period of 1 year with interest rate at 1 per cent annually.
5. Customers who died or became permanently disabled due to the flood will be granted 0.01 per cent interest annually throughout the rest of the loan contract.
6. If floods destroyed or left the building irreparable, debt on the building itself will be pardoned but customers still have to continue paying for debt on the land.
7) Customers with fire, flood and natural disaster insurance for their building will be compensated Bt15,000, unless they have photo proof that the damage costs more than Bt15,000, in which case the coverage will be raised to maximum Bt20,000 (or Bt30,000 if the insurance was bought after November 1, 2019.)
For more, visit GHB branch offices, call (02) 645-9000 or visit GHbank.co.th.
An initiative aimed at helping patients find medicines near their homes is enjoying success at various levels, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a survey by Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Programme (HITAP).
The “Near-home medicine pick-up project” has helped reduce travel time to receive medication, and is giving patients more time to consult pharmacists. The initiative of the National Health Security Office (NHSO) has seen increased participation by hospitals and pharmacies, and has been of great utility during Covid-19, HITAP said.
Dr Suwit Wibulpolprasert, board member of HITAP, recently revealed that the near-home medicine pick-up project, according to a survey, was able to reduce waiting time for medication and travel time by 37.5 minutes (22 per cent), increase the pharmacist consultation time by 4.5 minutes (56 per cent) and reduce congestion in hospitals by 10-20 per cent.
The number of pharmacies participating in the programme also exceeded targets: 130 hospitals joined when only 50 were expected to, while 1,033 pharmacies joined when only 500 were expected to — twice the target.
However, there are three major challenges facing the project: Low coverage and low distribution; cost and support do not reflect actual costs, and Information systems do not support the transfer of information between hospitals and pharmacies, affecting service quality and burdening the drugstore.
There is a proposal to support the expansion of hospital operations together with telemedicine services to an additional 50 per cent by 2021 and to 100 per cent by 2022 in order to reduce congestion of chronic disease patients by 50 per cent.
Meanwhile, information exchange between hospitals, drug stores and NHSO needed to be developed.
NHSO assistant director-general Dr Jakkrit Ngowsiri said the initiative was launched on October 1, 2019, in cooperation with the Pharmacy Council, Community Pharmacy Association (Thailand) Hospital Pharmacy Association, Drugstore operator, the Ministry of Public Health and NHSO.
The NHSO expects 36,450 patients to visit drugstores in 2021, after 19,625 voluntary patients participated in the programme with 29,986 visits.
Of the voluntary group of patients, 7,894 were aged 61-75, followed by 6,280 aged 46-60, 2,563 aged 75 and above, and 1,644 aged 31-45.
The top five hospitals with the highest number of patients participating in the programme were: Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital (3,515), Hat Yai Hospital (1,805), King Mongkut Memorial (Phra Chom Klao) Hospital (1,128), Lamphun Hospital (963), and Nakhon Pathom Hospital (859).
The number has increased significantly since March 2020, when the Covid-19 virus was spreading in Thailand. The NHSO is urging patients with stable chronic conditions to get medication at a local pharmacy to reduce the risk of infection and hospital congestion.
Activist Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikitseree tweeted at around midday on Wednesday (August 26) that he had been arrested and taken to the Samranrat Police Station in Bangkok.
In a video clip posted on the Free Youth movement’s Facebook page, police were seen presenting the activist with an arrest warrant and reading out seven charges, including sedition and illegal assembly. The charges are in relation to his role in the pro-democracy rally at Democracy Monument on July 18.
Responding to news that Facebook has accepted censorship requests from the Thai government, Rasha Abdul-Rahim, Amnesty Tech’s acting programme co-director, said: “Once again Facebook is caving to the whims of repressive governments, while making meek appeals to human rights, setting another dangerous precedent for freedom of expression online.
The company must do everything within its power to resist the Thai authorities’ arbitrary censorship demands. Human rights, not market access, must be the ultimate bottom line.
“It’s welcome that Facebook is now planning legal action to challenge the government’s censorship demands, but the harm has already been done: the company should not have given in to the demands in the first place.
“The Thai government’s threats of legal action to force Facebook to cooperate in online censorship amounts to yet another assault on freedom of expression online. As an Amnesty report in April 2020 showed, Thailand has developed an array of vague and menacing laws to sow fear into people’s social media use.
“The Thai authorities must cease their harassment of peaceful protesters, both online and in the streets. As protests continue to gain in scale, we urge the Thai authorities to engage in constructive dialogue and to respect the rights to freedom of assembly and expression.”
On Tuesday (August 25), Facebook had announced that they reluctantly complied with a request from the Thai government to restrict access to content.
A Facebook spokesperson said that the request “contravene[s] international human rights law, and has a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves. We work to protect and defend the rights of all internet users and are preparing to legally challenge this request” – though the nature of the legal challenge was not specified.
In April 2020, Amnesty International released “They Are Always Watching”, a report showing how the Thai authorities have prosecuted social-media users who criticise the government and monarchy in a systematic campaign to crush dissent.
Thai actress Daraneenute “Top” Pasutanavin became the latest target of online attack after her 2014 Instagram post supporting the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protest resurfaced on Wednesday (August 26).
The PDRC protest against a blanket amnesty bill led to a military coup and the ousting of Yingluck Shinawatra’s government.
Daraneenute is the third celebrity to be caught in the cyberspace war.
The other two were Pawanrat “Miew” Naksuriya and Ornapa “Ma” Krisadee, a transgender TV personality. Both of them were co-hosts of the TV show “Khao Sai Khai” aired on Thairath TV.
Celebrities came under the spotlight after Ornapa posted a vulgar message attacking student protesters, saying: “Keep playing with your [expletive] at home. Don’t go to school, you demon kids.”
Angered by her comment, netizens launched a boycott campaign against Ornapa and she was forced to give up her job in two TV shows.
The next person to come under fire was Pawanrat, whose clip mocking victims of the “popcorn gunman” Vivat Yodprasit, who targeted red-shirt protesters at Bangkok’s Laksi intersection in 2014, resurfaced.
Netizens have launched boycott campaigns against celebrities who allegedly supported the 2014 military-led coup and it is believed that more will be targeted.
A business owner in Phayao province allegedly killed his wife and two stepchildren and also took his own life on Tuesday night.
According to reports from neighbours, he was paranoid that they were planning to take over his coffee shop.
Chiang Kham Police Station was notified of the incident at around 11pm on Tuesday (August 25).
Police found the bodies of Phongthep Rieowchartsakul, Suphaphon Saechao and Kanlayaphon Rieowchartsakul in the house. While they were searching for the suspected killer, they heard a gunshot nearby.
Yutthana Rieowchartsakul, 51, the suspect shot himself dead 300 metres from the crime scene. He reportedly had arguments with his stepson Phongthep over the coffee shop business.
Police said Yutthana amd his stepson might have had an argument, leading to the alleged murdered of Phongthep with a shotgun.
Yutthana then allegedly killed his wife Suphaphon and a five-year-old daughter, Kanlayaphon, to eliminate witnesses to the crime before taking his own life.
The medicinal plant Andrographis Paniculata could be effective in treating Covid-19, the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine said, revealing results of preliminary research.
The trial will enter Phase 2 with 60 volunteers this September, the department said.
Dr Marut Jirasetasiri, director of the department, said that preliminary trials showed that Andrographis Paniculata could be used to fight the Covid-19 virus, as the plant extract could prevent infection from one cell to another in the human body.
Trials involving six Covid-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms were arranged to test an Andrographis extract with a concentration of three times (180mg/day) and five times, Marut said.
The results showed that using a concentration of three times found improvement, especially in coughing. Both the cough volume and symptom severity decreased significantly within three days. After five days, the other symptoms began to improve, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests were found to be negative in two patients. After three weeks, RT-PCR was tested again and found that all six were negative and no infection was found. However, the results of the treatment were not confirmed because this was an early study, Marut said.
Phase 2 will start in September with 60 volunteers, in the Banglamung Hospital area, Chonburi province, and Samut Prakarn Hospital. The volunteers will be divided into two groups: one of patients receiving Andrographis at three times concentration and the other group will be given a placebo pill for the same period, Marut said.
If the test finds that the group given Andrographis showed improvement in symptoms compared to the other group, it could be concluded that Andrographis Paniculata extract could be used to treat Covid-19, but more research would need to be undertaken, he added.
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Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikitseree 
Daraneenute “Top” Pasutanavin 
Dr Marut Jirasetasiri 
