The Corrections Department confirmed today (Wednesday) that it had to send former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the Police Hospital in the middle last night, because the department’s hospital does not have adequate equipment to cope with his ailments, particularly his heart disease.
The department said, in a statement issued Wednesday morning, that at 11.59pm, a nurse in Zone 7 of the Bangkok Remand Prison reported that Thaksin experienced tightness in his chest and could not sleep well. He was also suffering hypoxemia and hypertension.
The nurse then consulted a doctor, who checked the medical records in files from hospitals in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, where Thaksin had been treated before his return to Thailand yesterday.
The files show that Thaksin has several ailments under treatment, including high blood pressure (hypertension), myocardial ischemia, a degenerative spine, pulmonary fibrosis and heart disease, which requires special monitoring.
The department’s hospital is not adequately equipped to cope with heart disease, which is life threatening, so it decided to have him taken to the Police Hospital immediately, according to the statement.
Thaksin was admitted to the Police Hospital at about 12.20am and the department has deployed guards there, in accordance with procedure, according to the statement.
