Park plan has hospital backers livid

KALASIN: Residents are up in arms over a decision by local authorities to turn the old provincial hall into a public park instead of a new medical centre as previously agreed.

More than 100 people, including local politicians and state medical workers, converged on the current provincial hall on Tuesday to protest against a move by the province’s so-called provincial administration committee to give the seven-storey building and the land it’s built on to Kalasin municipality, which plans to turn it into a public park.

The move goes against a 2013 decision made by the former provincial governor, Suwit Subongkot, to give the building to Kalasin Hospital which wants to expand its care facilities to keep up with a growing number of patients.

The hospital drew up plans to convert it into a new medical centre upon learning the building was to be donated.

Those who gathered on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest before handing a petition to the current provincial governor, Kraison Kongchalat, and dispersing.

Kriangkrai Phumlaochaeng, mayor of tambon Yang Talat municipality in Muang district, said he and others at the rally want the provincial administration committee to revise its decision.

Mr Suwit, the former governor, reached a formal agreement to give the building and the land to Kalasin Hospital for its new medical centre project to best serve the public interest, Mr Kriangkrai said.

“This new decision is against the public will and a public hearing should be held to decide whether the public wants a new park or hospital,” he said.

The province already has two major public parks, he said.

Siwabul Chaisongkhram, a doctor at Kalasin Hospital, said he joined the park’s opponents because the province is in dire need of a larger care facility to keep up with a rising demand for healthcare services that comes with an increasingly ageing society in the province.

“Every day, I see crowds of patients and their relatives fill the hospital’s wards,” he said.

“The hospital doesn’t even have enough space to accommodate relatives wanting to stay at the hospital with the patients,” he added.

Former Kalasin senator, Wirat Phimphanit, said he saw no need to build a third public park and that the provincial committee should have consulted the public before deciding to have another one.