Tono’s Mekong charity swim to get Nakhon Phanom heart centre pumping with THB50m
Nakhon Phanom Hospital (NPH) will request a donation of 50 million baht from actor/singer Phakin “Tono” Khamwilaisak, whose Mekong charity swim raised 87 million baht for NPH and a Laos hospital on the other side of the river.
NPH said the donation will enable its heart disease centre to open three years faster than if it waited for government budget.
Phakin’s daring “One Man and the River” charity swim across the Mekong River to Laos and back on October 22 also raised funds for Khammouane Hospital in Laos.
NPH director Dr Thanasit Praipong said on Wednesday that the hospital had already received 370 million baht from the Public Health Ministry to build a 12-storey heart disease centre.
“The building is complete, but the centre still needs medical equipment to start treating about 200 patients per year with cardiovascular disease,” he said.
“Nakhon Phanom needs this centre as the mortality rate from heart disease in the province is about 15%. The centre will eliminate the need to transfer patients to better-equipped hospitals in other provinces.”
Thanasit said the budget for medical equipment had been earmarked in the provincial development plan, but it would take at least three years to disburse the amount required to get the heart disease centre running.
Meanwhile, Dr Khamla Ratchawong, deputy director of Khammouane Hospital in Laos, said it needed to replace about 25 pieces of ageing medical equipment including its X-ray and ultrasound machines.
He added that Khammouane and Nakhon Phanom hospitals have signed an agreement to jointly treat patients, so the money for NPH’s heart disease centre will benefit patients in Laos as well.
