Bernama 3 Jul 12;
THAILAND, July 3 (Bernama) -- Some 60,000 face masks have been dispatched to people in Thailand's southernmost region who have been affected by haze from the Sumatra Island, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.
Thai Public Health Minister Wittaya Buranasiri told journalists Tuesday that he has instructed his ministry's disease control office in Songkhla to send the 60,000 face masks to people in five southernmost provinces, 12,000 each, including Satul, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, to protect themselves from respiratory problems caused by the prevailing haze, particularly those of vulnerable or at risk groups namely heart disease and allergy and asthma patients, as well as the elderly and chidren.
Wittaya said that he has also instructed public health service entities in the five southernmost haze-hit provinces, including provincial and communal hospitals, to protect general patients in their respective areas from exposing to harmful smog and to prepare sufficient medical supplies for treatment of the local haze victims.
According to the minister, his ministry's Department of Disease Control has even stored additional 50,000 face masks at its stocks in Bangkok, as the haze situation in the Thai South is foreseen to persist for a certain period of time.
-- BERNAMA
