After 13 years in Thailand, Nay Zaw Moe has seen several Myanmar workers lose their limbs at work and yet get no compensation that they are entitled to.

“They are properly registered,” the Myanmar driver said at a recent seminar.

The problem, authorities believe, is that the workers’ dishonest employers failed to submit financial contributions to the scheme and lied to the migrants.

But even if those migrants had been properly registered and covered, they could have lost the benefits that they should have received in their later years.

Taking monthly contributions from workers, employers and the Thai government, the current social security scheme offers several benefits, including pension to its members. But most migrants are unlikely to receive these pension benefits because the odds are that they will have returned to their homeland by then. Furthermore, if they die after returning home, their families will have to jump through complicated hoops if they want to claim the benefits they are entitled to.

Pakpoom Sawangkhum, technical officer of Raks Thai Foundation, lamented that even when migrants have worked in Thailand for a long time, they often find it difficult to seek medical care at the hospital designated to them under the healthcare package that they are required to pay into.

This package offers free comprehensive healthcare, but migrants often change jobs and have difficulty returning for services at the hospital they were assigned to in the first place, he said at the seminar.

Raks Thai Foundation held the seminar on Sunday in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon, to raise awareness of the need for relevant authorities to work harder to ensure that the rights of migrant workers are respected.

“When the price of rubber drops, they move from rubber plantations to fishing boats. Then to factories, to construction sites, and so on, depending on where the wages are higher,” he explained.

According to Pakpoom, the healthcare package migrants are required to buy – if they do not join the social security scheme – comes at a relatively high price in relation to the low wages paid to labourers. For two years of coverage, each migrant must pay Bt3,200.

“This is a big sum of money for migrant workers to pay at one time,” he said.

He believes the Thai government should go back to the old welfare scheme for migrants, which offered them a year’s coverage for Bt1,600.

The longer insurance period |is also a financial burden on employers, especially if workers changed jobs in a few months, said Chinchai Satirayakorn, head of the National Fisheries Association of Thailand.

He said most workers on his fishing boats breached their contracts. They came via Thailand-Myanmar agreements to work for a year on boats, but left early to find better jobs in factories.

Dr Surapong Areeyapitipan, head of Samut Sakhon’s Public Health Office, took note of the many problems migrants face in enrolling for Thailand’s welfare schemes.

He also confirmed that some employers avoided making monthly contributions to the Social Security Fund or failed to report cases of migrant workers having workplace accidents.

Surapong pointed to another problem: the fund, which was initially designed for Thai residents, does not reflect the needs of migrant workers. Contributing to a pension, for example, does not benefit migrant workers who often work for a short time in Thailand before returning home, he said.

There are an estimated 5 million migrant workers in Thailand, according to the International Organisation for Migrants. Of these, only 3 million are properly registered, while the remainder work illegally and have no access to welfare.

The hard-hit provinces are Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Phatthalung, according to the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department.

“We are now trying to locate the victim who went missing in Nakhon Si Thammarat,” the department said yesterday without giving any further details.

The department estimated that the floods had disrupted the lives of more than 166,000 people in the three southern provinces since Saturday.

Nakhon Si Thammarat was the hardest hit of the provinces. Due to high flood levels, many families have been evacuated and several schools closed, while train services have been rescheduled because some sections of track were swamped.

The Meteorological Department said downpours would continue across the South under the influence of a monsoon storm.

Phatthalung Governor Kukiat Wongkrapun yesterday warned locals to watch out for more flash floods, as further scattered rain was still likely.

“People living along waterways have to watch out because the weather bureau suggests that more heavy rain is coming,” he said.

He also warned locals living in mountainous areas to beware of possible landslides.

According to the Meteorological Department, Chumphon, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun are also at risk of severe flooding.

In Trang’s Rassada district, the water level has already risen up to 150 centimetres in places because of run-off from Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Thung Song district.

The Kuan Mao-Khao Ro Road in Rassada district is now so swamped that it has become impassable for cars.

“I decided to move my belongings to the second floor of my house this morning,” said Uraiwan Khaothong, a resident of Trang. “I also sent my elderly parents and young children to stay with relatives, whose home is still dry.”

Trang Governor Leuchai Charoensap said locals must remain on alert for floods and associated risks at least until today.

Authorities are now helping locals in flood-risk areas move their belongings to safe places, as well as handing out relief items to those living in already-inundated areas.

Fishermen in the South are advised to be extra cautious because of rough weather conditions.

Authorities said strong winds are expected to hit the seaside towns of Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan this week. .

NATIONAL budgeting and the welfare system need serious reform if Thailand is to solve its grave problems of social inequality, social justice advocacy groups said yesterday.

The We Fair Network of 13 organisations presented its proposal for reform of the country’s welfare system in seven aspects to key political parties at a forum yesterday. The group said improving the welfare system, making changes to tax collection and improving budget management were essential to solving the problem of wealth disparity and social inequality.

A Credit Suisse report recently named Thailand the most unequal country in the world, with 1 per cent of the population owning 66.9 per cent of the wealth.

The We Fair Network said progressive policies to create an efficient universal welfare system were necessary for combating the problem of gross social inequality. It also cautioned that the government’s approach to reducing poverty and social inequality by targeting social welfare at the poor only was misguided.

Decharut Sukkumnoed, an economics professor at Kasetsart University, said at the root of social disparity in Thailand was insufficient and poor-quality welfare as well unequal access to state welfare among citizens.

“Many poor people are unable to pursue their goals and improve their livelihoods because they do not get enough assistance from authorities to get good education, which is an important foundation in life,” Decharut said.

“Meanwhile, many middle-class people are also facing financial problems as they have to rely on expensive education and healthcare services from the private sector, because the quality of state welfare is poor.”

The network proposed changes on seven fronts – education, healthcare, housing, employment, pension and social equality.

It proposed a boost in budget for the education sector, so the system can be improved. As for health, it urged that all healthcare schemes be merged into one, so each citizen can be provided with quality medical care.

Also, it suggested a progressive land tax, low-interest loans for housing and access to at least 15 rai for each family. In order to boost earnings among low-income Thais, it suggested that the minimum wage be regularly adjusted for inflation. It also suggested that the same be done for pensions and that a state subsidy be provided for the disabled.

Decharut said the most sustainable solution for societal inequality would be a standardised welfare system for one and all, unlike the exclusive welfare for the poor delivered the pro-junta Pracharat Policy.

“It has been found that up to 30 per cent of poor people do not have access to government welfare, so it would better for our society as a whole if the government allocated more funds to enhance the state welfare system,” he said.

Decharut said that even though We Fair Network’s proposed policies would require up to Bt1.4 trillion to install and maintain, this huge expenditure could be considered a wise investment considering the great public benefits.

“If we consider the government’s spending as a whole, we can see that allocating a large part of the country’s budget on welfare is possible,” he said.

“We can boost the country’s revenue by cutting down tax deductions and benefits for direct investments and impose a progressive land tax or inheritance tax on those who can afford it to fund our welfare system.”

Vichien said the UN was considering reclassification because cannabidiol – found both in hemp and marijuana – had been shown to have medical benefits without the intoxicating properties of other cannabinoids, such as psychotropic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Some countries use cannabidiol in food-supplement products, he added.

Vichien met with International Narcotics Control Board member Viroj Sumyai last month to discuss Thailand’s move to legalise medical marijuana.

With restrictions possibly set to be lifted on cannabidiol, Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) chairman Sopon Mekthon suggested that the government encourage farmers to grow hemp as a source of cannabis-related remedies rather than marijuana.

More psychotropic effect

He said Thailand-grown marijuana still had a rather high THC level and yielded a low amount of cannabidiol, meaning people were more likely to take it for psychotropic effects.

Sopon added that the government should legalise the growing of hemp, and study which strains to grow and where to cultivate in order to maximise the cannabidiol content.

Vichien, who has carried out GPO research into cannabis strains for medical purposes, said hemp (Cannnabis sativa L Subsp sativa) is judged different from marijuana (Cannabis sativa L Subsp indica (Lam) based on the amount of THC content.

Thailand requires that hemp must contain less than 1 per cent THC, while the US requirement is for less than 0.3 per cent and Europe’s is for below 0.2 per cent.

Vichien explained that if Thailand wanted to grow hemp to get cannabidiol for global export, it had to ensure the produce contained less than 0.3 per cent THC and make sure there was no heavy-metal contamination.

The government may have to amend its regulation to cap THC content at 0.3 per cent, because anything higher is regarded as narcotic marijuana, the lecturer said.

He added that if Thailand were to grow drought-hardy hemp, which is mostly cultivated for fibre and Omega oil-rich seeds besides cannabidiol, farmers could follow the dual model – focusing on both fibre and cannabidiol – that is applied by China, the world’s largest source of cannabidiol.