Violence scares off medics
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Violence scares off medics

The southernmost provinces still lack an adequate number of forensic doctors and psychiatrists as the insurgency keeps them away, according to medical personnel.

Forensic doctors choose to work elsewhere in Thailand because they fear for their safety in the troubled region. 

Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong, Prince of Songkla University (PSU)'s director of the Institute of Research and Development for Health of Southern Thailand, said the public health system in the deep South was not short of financial support but human capital remains scarce.

"We need to invest more in human resources, especially among the local people," said Dr Virasakdi, also chairman of the PSU International Programme for Graduate Study in Epidemiology.

Paisit Pusittrakul, a human rights researcher, suggested that human rights training programmes should be integrated into training for health and medical personnel, as they tend to be the first people to witness human rights violations.

The government should provide more forensic doctors and psychiatrists to help cover the situation in the deep South, while also improving the health and justice systems, said Mr Paisit.

Mahamad Mokmula, from Narathiwat's Ruso Hospital, said southerners generally have access to good forensic services but challenges remain since no forensic doctor is attached to provincial hospitals.

CT scanners should also be made available in the deep South, which would assist forensic work in the region.

More psychiatrists are also needed in the deep South, said Ahamadmuzulam Pohcik, president of the Thai Islamic Medical Association (Tima).

There are two Muslim psychiatrists, one in Pattani and one in Yala, and a Buddhist psychiatrist in Narathiwat, said the Tima president, who is also a doctor at the Cha Nae Hospital in Narathiwat. 

He noted that currently less than one-third of medical personnel in the deep South are Muslim. 

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