100th Anniversary of Thai Public Health -FDC(I)-IT-

ARTICLE DESCRIPTION:

MiNo. 3788A FDC(I)-IT- Thailand
Opr. (5x2 and 2x2); A = perf. K 13 1/4; B = imperforated
FDC(I), Date of issue: 24.09.2019
Picture descriptions:
fbz) Portrait of Prince Mahidol, emblem
3788 A  3 B multicolored fbz
Quantity FDC(I): 10,000 pieces
Designer: Mr. Udorn Niyomthum (Thailand Post)
Printer: Thai British Security Printing, Thailand
Conservation Status:
Here as a FDC (Version I) with perforated single stamp and first day special postmark and day cancellation
Issue Notice:

• Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkhla (born January 1, 1892 in Bangkok, died 24. 09 1929 in Bangkok), was a member of the Siam (now Thai) royal family, naval officer and physician. He was the son of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and Queen Savang Vadhana and the father of the later kings Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX.).
  At the time of the First World War, the Siamese health system was well below the Western standard and did not receive much attention from the king and the government. Siriraj Hospital, founded by King Chulalongkorn, was too small and lacked funds and staff to significantly improve the health of the population. At the time of his departure from the Navy, Mahidol's older half-brother, Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi (Prince of Chai Nat), was head of medical education. He tried to win Mahidol for his project to raise the medical care of the population to western standards. After initial hesitation Mahidol agreed, but he wanted to be trained first in a study.
• Mahidol studied from 1917 public health and the preparation course for medical studies (Pre-medical) at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At the behest of the Prince and his mother, four more students were sent to the United States to study medicine and nursing, including 18-year-old Sangwal Talabhat, his future wife. The two married in 1920, despite the royal family's principle, that high-ranking princes should not marry commoners. However, as Sangwal had won the sympathy of the queen's widow Savang Vadhana (Mahidol's mother) as chambermaid and Mahidol was not a likely candidate for succession to the throne at the time, an exception was made and they received the blessing of the palace. Due to their descent, Mahidol's wife initially received only the relatively minor title Mom Sangwal Mahidol na Ayutthaya.
• In 1921 Mahidol graduated with a Certificate in Public Health (C.P.H.). In the following years, he and his wife traveled through the USA, various states of Europe, the Middle East and Asia - partly for pleasure, partly to educate themselves and partly also in the exercise of official duties. Among other things, he negotiated as a representative of Siam with the Rockefeller Foundation for support in the modernization and expansion of the medical and nursing education of his country. His first daughter, Princess Galyani Vadhana, was born in 1923 during a stay in London. A short time later, they returned to Siam, where Mahidol assumed the post of Director-General for University Affairs in the Ministry of Education. He was also head of the Royal Medical School (precursor of the present day medical school Siriraj Hospital of Mahidol University), where from 1923 was taught according to a renewed concept developed on his initiative and with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation. He taught undergraduate students themselves and taught biology and history at Chulalongkorn University. During this time, the completely inadequate buildings of the Siriraj Hospital were removed or rebuilt.