Thai hospital boss says he's building a 'Hitler' gas chambers to punish smokers

A Thai medical chief sparked outrage as he vowed to build Nazi style gas chambers to punish anyone caught smoking in hospitals.

Major General Dr Rienthong Nanna, director of Mongkutwattana Hospital in Bangkok, said on social media he would convert the hospital's 'public phone booth' donated during the pandemic into a gas chamber in which to confine hospital rule breakers.

He said in his online tirade on September 8: 'I plan to repurpose the public phone booths that were donated for COVID-19 screening during the 2020-2022 pandemic. These booths are no longer in use and would otherwise become waste. I will use it to create an innovation called a 'smoke room' for those who violate the law by smoking at Mongkutwattana Hospital.

'They can sit and smoke as much as they want in the booth, but the cigarette smoke will not be released outside. This way, it will not harm only the health of the smoker and not the general public.'

The army chief said he would call the facilities 'Hitler Rooms'. He said they will be equipped with an automatic lock sensor that would only open after all the smoke had been inhaled.

The hospital chief continued: 'This innovation may seem cruel to those who are idealistic. So don't try my patience. Don't try to smoke in Mongkutwattana Hospital. If you refuse to go to our hospital because of the cruel measures in place, then I am pleased.'

Rienthong said he would no longer hit people caught smoking but would send them to the rooms, where they would be punished by 'black hooded gentlemen'.

He added: 'I will name this 'smoke room' the 'Hitler room'. If the 'Hitler room' is built and they still selfishly smoke in the area of ​​Mongkutwattana Hospital and hurt others, from now on there will be no more slapping, but there will be mob punishment by volunteers who use the services of Mongkutwattana Hospital together with men in black masks.'

The doctor's outburst came after staff caught a teenager, 14, smoking in an outpatient department restroom in the hospital's Building 3 on May 13.

Rienthong reportedly slapped the lad across the face four times, causing him to cry. He also allegedly kicked him twice in the face and kneed him near his left eye before kicking him out of the hospital naked.

Following the draconian punishment against a minor, he faced charges of threatening, extortion, assault, committing an indecent act towards children under 15, bullying, and torturing children.

The boy was later reported to have been carrying a pack of heroin.

Hitler's gas chambers were part of the Nazi regime's systematic extermination of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. These chambers, located in concentration camps like Auschwitz, used poisonous gas such as Zyklon B to kill large numbers of people at a time.