Thai king’s health ‘shows signs of improvement’

By Max Constant

BANGKOK

Thailand’s revered 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej has shown signs of improvement after an infection of his respiratory system eased, a health bulletin released by the royal palace said Sunday.

Checks on the monarch’s blood and phlegm indicated that “the severity of the infection” has subsided, according to the statement quoted by the Bangkok Post, which added that the monarch had undergone renal therapy besides the treatment for the infection.

The statement was issued two days after an earlier health bulletin stated that the king was receiving treatment for “a severe infection” and had water removed from his lungs.

“On August 31, His Majesty’s heart beat was fast and he had a very thick mucus,” the bulletin released Friday evening had said.

The king’s health has been a matter of deep concern for many Thais.

The king, who is suffering from a range of ailments, from regular lung infections to spinal cord problems, has been mostly hospitalized in Bangkok's Siriraj hospital since 2009.

According to the 1924 succession law, the successor will be Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, the 63-year-old only son of the king.

Vajiralongkorn, whose private life has been subject to debate, albeit in closed circles because of Thailand’s harsh lese-majeste law, is much less popular than his father.

After the king’s passing, analysts foresee an unavoidable decline in the prestige of the monarchic institution which had been quasi-resurrected by King Bhumibol from the end of the 1950s, when military dictator Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat understood that he could utilize a revival of the monarchy for personal benefit.

From that moment on, the king -- accompanied by his queen -- crisscrossed the country's rural areas, putting himself in direct contact with the country's most deprived.

The king launched numerous projects, from helping ethnic minorities in the mountainous areas of the north, to encouraging a switch from opium growing to coffee, to medical endeavors such as sponsoring the fight to rid the world of chronic diseases, such as leprosy and polio.

Analysts say privately that the decline in the king's health is one of the reasons why military officials are trying to maintain their role at the helm of the country, after overthrowing the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra in a May 2014 coup.

The military, they claim, is simply trying to maintain control of the country during the delicate period during which a new monarch will emerge.