The Impact of Providing Medical Assistance to Local People of Medical Unit of The Royal Thai Army Task Force in East Timor

Piyapan Cheeranont MD*

Affiliation : * Department of Surgery, Phramongkutklao Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand

The Royal Thai Army deployed a large troop overseas to join the United Nation Peace Operation in East Timor in October 1999. The operations included recovering peace, providing security and humanitarian assistance in the area of operations in Baucau and Viqueque. Our level 2 medical unit provided medical assistance to the Timoreses by opening consultation at our medical unit and sending mobile clinics into remote areas. This mission made Thailand uphold its good reputation and good relationship with the Timoreses. To reduce any conflicts and to ensure a high success of UN peacekeeping missions, enhancing a collaborative work and relationship with the NGO who previously pursued health service activities in that area are needed. Additionally, concerning negative impacts to the local people should be considered after implementation of the health service system. They had to adapt themselves to the limitation of their own local health service after the humanitarian assistance was over. There is a need to improve the training of military personnel with internationally accepted guidelines and they understand their potential roles within armed forces and improve the coverage of humanitarian needs for the next mission.

Keywords : Peace operation, Royal Thai Army, Impact, Timorese, Humanitarian assistance

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