Protest veteran Ekachai moved to Rajavithi Hospital

Social activist in prison, according to prison doctors, needs more liver abscess tests.

Protest veteran Ekachai moved to Rajavithi Hospital
After appearing in court in March 2021 on charges of attempting to harm the Queen, Ekachai Hongkangwan salutes with three fingers. In June of this year, he and four other people were found not guilty of the crime. ( Bangkok Post File Image )

After being found to have a heart infection by prison doctors, jailed political campaigner Ekachai Hongkangwan was transferred to Rajavithi Hospital for assessments, according to his attorneys.

On Wednesday, attorneys petitioned the Department of Corrections to send their clientele, who they claimed had a stomach tumor, to Thammasat University Hospital as soon as possible.

Doctors performed a number of tests after Ekachai, 48, was admitted to the Central Correctional Hospital on September 8 with cirrhosis and other ailments.

According to them, their tests revealed a kidney infection that was not cancerous but did exhibit signs of infection. His situation started to get better after they started giving him iv medications, but they ultimately decided to refer him to Rajavithi Hospital, one of the biggest public hospitals in the city, for more testing.

Following the exchange of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Police General Hospital only 13 days after being admitted to prison, attention has recently been focused on the treatment of sick residents.

Ekachai, 48, is now serving a one-year sentence for breaking the Computer Crime Act by sharing graphic accounts of his physical encounters while incarcerated in the past.

He was initially detained in 2013 for selling pirated copies of an American TV film on the Thai king, which was against Part 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese-majeste rules.

He started appearing frequently at open rallies after his release. He was cleared earlier this year of endangering Her Majesty the Queen’s health in a 2020 royal limousine incident.