The Health Service Support Department will propose tomorrow, that Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew file charges against a private hospital for refusing emergency treatment to a seriously injured Taiwanese tourist, who died during transfer to another hospital.

The department’s director general, Dr Sura Wisetsak, said today that he will submit the findings of an investigation into the hospital’s conduct. He visited the hospital in question today, to find out whether it had violated the provisions of the Medical Facilities Act B.E. 2541 (1998).

According to the law, a hospital must provide medical treatment to an emergency patient until he or she is out of danger, in line with the professional capabilities and the type of facility. Violators of the law are subject to two years imprisonment and/or a fine of 40,000 baht.

He also said that the National Institute for Emergency Medicine will determine whether the hospital should be charged with breaching the medical standards for assisting an emergency patient as well.  The penalty for such a violation is a fine of 100,000 baht.

The Taiwanese tourist is thought to have been the victim of a hit and run accident on the night of December 8^th. He was found unconscious on a road in the Phatthanakan area and rushed to the nearby Vibharam Hospital by a rescue unit. The hospital allegedly refused to treat him because he was “a foreigner”, forcing the emergency unit to take him to a state hospital, which was about 10 kilometres away. He died en route.