Mongkut Wattana Hospital’s director, Dr. Rienthong Nanna, who is well-known for his tough anti-smoking stand, has come up with an innovation to deal with cigarette smokers at the hospital.
In his Facebook post on Sunday, Dr. Rienthong wrote that he plans to turn several unused public telephone booths, which were donated to the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic, into “smoking booths”, for smokers who are caught smoking on the hospital’s premises.
“This may seem cruel, but do not try to challenge the no smoking rule in the hospital,” he wrote, adding that he could not care less if there are people who do not like his innovation and wish to boycott the hospital.
He explained that the smokers would no longer be punished in other ways, but would be made to go inside the “smoking booths” when they wish to smoke. In there they can smoke as many cigarettes as they want, he wrote, adding that there will not be a ventilation system, so the smoke from all the smokers will be remain in the booth and will not leak out to harm other people.
“The smoker will inhale all of the smoke from his cigarette (both filtered and unfiltered). 100% of the smoke will enter the smoker’s respiratory system, so there will be no smoke escaping to disturb or harm other people,” wrote Dr. Rienthong.
Part of Dr.Reinthong Facebook post reads; “I am going to call these smoking booths “Hitler’s Chambers”. (Photo: Reinthong Nanna’s Facebook)
The door of each “smoking booth” will be automatically controlled and it will be unlocked when the smoker wishes to leave, according to the doctor.
“I am serious about this. Since law enforcement officers do not protect the innocent, Thai society needs someone like “Batman” to deal with the bad guys,” he wrote.
In May this year, a 14-year-old boy was slapped and stripped naked by Dr. Rienthong after being caught smoking in the hospital. He later increased the fine for smoking in the hospital from 5,000 baht to 500,000 baht.
