THE NATION (Bangkok, Thailand) 03 August 03 Snake man stands firm (Krissana Juttisawaeng)
A Nakhon Si Thammarat snakebite healer who claims to have cured 4,000 victims with his mysterious herbal remedies, is undeterred by the fact that provincial health officials have told him to quit his controversial treatment.
Somnuk Chanthaprasutr - famous in the province for his knack of clearing up people's snakebite wounds - has pledged to continue his work.
Somnuk says that his record speaks for itself, and he should be allowed to continue practising so he can continue saving lives.
Provincial health officer Dr Nopporn Chuenklin has written to Somnuk, demanding that he stop administering his herbal treatments to snakebite victims. Nopporn said he was concerned that people might be risking their lives by seeking treatment from Somnuk, adding that the healer had no recognised medical credentials.
"I want Somnuk to stop treating people for snakebites. This country is ruled by laws, and the public needs to be protected," Nopporn said.
"If the herbs he uses to cure snakebite victims were really effective, then modern pharmacology methods should be able to turn them into an approved medicine," Nopporn said. But Somnuk is continuing his work.
On Friday evening he claims to have healed the wounds of two people - Jaratsi Boontit, 47, and Orachorn Chettawanasit, 40, both from Phrom Khiri district - after they had been bitten by cobras. Panya Lertkrai, the chairman of the community development programme at Rajabhat Institute Nakhon Sithammarat, defended Somnuk, saying that the snakebite healer had cured 4,000 people over more than 20 years in the business.
However, if Somnuk proved to be a charlatan, then he should be prevented from treating snakebite victims in the future, Panya added.
Ma-ae Tohlonghmad, 62, of Tha Sala district, said he was bitten by a snake in 1982. Doctors wanted to amputate his badly infected leg, but he refused. Soon after he received treatment from Somnuk, and his wounds healed.
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THE NATION (Bangkok, Thailand) 02 August 03 Health office defangs famed snake doctor (Sirinart Sirisunthorn)
A snake doctor praised by the Thailand Research Fund for his highly effective herbal snakebite cure has been warned to stop treating patients, a source at the provincial public health office said yesterday.
"The health office reasoned in its statement that Somnuk Chanthaprasutr's treatment might kill patients," the source said.
Somnuk was singled out for praise earlier this week by Thailand Research Fund researcher Suttiwong Pongpaiboon, who supervised a study of snake doctors in the South.
Suttiwong called on the Public Health Ministry to sanction the snake doctors' therapies for snakebites after research showed they were good at using traditional techniques to cure snakebite victims.
He particularly praised Somnuk, who had a 93-per-cent success rate using only herbs to heal festering bite wounds caused by Malaysian pit vipers.
"It's unacceptable," Suttiwong said yesterday in reaction to the reported action, adding that he would consult relevant parties to start a movement against it.
"Somnuk has treated snakebite victims for a long time and our research [that endorsed him] is of good standard and respected by academics," he said.
Suttiwong asked the Nakhon Si Thammarat public health office to prove what was wrong with Somnuk's treatments.
Pattani Senator General Harn Leelanont, a former Nakhon Si Thammarat MP, also came to Somnuk's defence.
Harn said he knew Somnuk personally and admired his ability, having cured thousands of snakebite patients.
"In one case, a snakebite patient nearly underwent an amputation in hospital. When he ran to Somnuk, he cured his wounds without any amputation and didn't charge a baht," Harn said.
He added that Somnuk generally did not charge his patients.
Harn slammed the public health office for being narrow-minded.
"I don't like to see modern doctors look down on traditional medical knowledge," he said.
Somnuk, 76, told the Thai-language Matichon newspaper on Thursday that he had learned his skill from a late-abbot whose effective treatment for snakebite was famous in the region.
"When he passed away in 1993, I started treating patients myself," Somnuk said.
He admitted that not all his patients were assured of a cure.
"Some died because they came to me too late," the snake doctor said.
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