On Aug 15, about 200 local people and red shirts in Lampang gathered at Ngao District Hospital to protest against a doctor who had refused to treat an old woman whose daughter wore a ‘Truth Today’ red shirt.

Photos by เวลาและวารี 
http://www.pantip.com/cafe/rajdumnern/topic/P8204775/P8204775.html

Sasiros Phasamutr, 33, took her mother Yod Srinual to the District Hospital on Aug 13 to receive treatment for gout in her legs.  When Sasiros pushed her mother into the room in a wheelchair, Doctor Benchawan Mairod saw that Sasiros was wearing a red t-shirt, pointed a finger at her and said out loud, ‘Why do you wear a red shirt?  I don’t like the red shirts, especially Thaksin, who mess up the country.’

The doctor then wrote a note to send the patient to another doctor, saying that she ‘could not put up with examining people who wear a Thaksin t-shirt.’ 

Afterwards, Sasiros took her mother home and consulted her relatives.  They then came to protest at the hospital with wreaths and banners.

Ngao District Chief and the Director of the Hospital came out to meet the protesters who demanded the doctor be immediately transferred.

Director Thanawat Wongchaiudomchoke said that a panel had been appointed to look into the case, and the doctor would be transferred elsewhere within 3 days.  

Doctor Benchawan Mairod, a Lampang native, graduated from Chiang Mai University in 2008.