Thailand in anguish as King's health woes continue

By Max Constant

BANGKOK

Ten days after the publication of a worrying health bulletin, the 87-year-old Thai king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, remains hospitalized as anguish grows in the country over his possible political succession in a tense political context.

On Sept. 7, the royal household released a health bulletin saying that the highly revered monarch had been placed on antibiotics following a fresh blood infection.

“The result of blood checks found that he had an infection in his blood. The result of a chest X-ray found that his right lung was inflamed,” said the bulletin.

On Wednesday, another health bulletin said that the King was recovering and had no more fever. 

“His Majesty’s respiration and blood oxygen levels have returned to normal, while X-rays found improvement in lung inflammation,” said the last statement.

“The King was able to eat and doctors continue to give him parenteral [drip] nutrition and oxygen."

In 2009, Bhumibol was hospitalized for flu and pneumonia Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital.

Since then, he has been in and out of care, his days outside the ward spent at his seaside “Far From Worries” palace in Hua Hin, 200km south of Bangkok.

In 2011, his health woes continued - diagnosed with intestinal inflammation, and then suffering bleeding in his skull in 2012.

Each health alert is a cause of anxiety for the Thai people, the vast majority of whom were born under his reign.

The King ascended the throne in 1946, after the unsolved mysterious death of his brother, King Ananda, who was found dead with a bullet wound to his head in his bedroom in June that year. 

Details of the death of Ananda Mahidol have never been fully explained.

On Monday, Princess Chulabhorn, the King's youngest daughter, called on the people of Thailand to recite Buddhist prayers for her father to “recover from the illness that is afflicting him right now” - the first time such a call for prayer has been made.

Many Thais worry about the likely succession as 63-year-old Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who divorced his third wife last year, is much less popular than his father.

The tense political context and deep divisions in the country between supporters of the traditional elite and those who want social change have added to the sensitivity of the royal succession.

These divisions have been at the fore since the May 22, 2014 coup, which overthrew an elected government.

On Sept. 6, a draft constitution was rejected by a military-appointed assembly, extending the junta's hold on power by 20 months. 

Some analysts have speculated that the military organized this rejection in order to assure they would remain in charge of the country at the time of the succession.