The government should provide shelters to house homeless people suffering from mental illnesses so they can receive the necessary treatment, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) says.
Sittiphol Chuprajong, the head of the Mirror Foundation's "Humans on the Street" project, said that homeless people suffering from mental illnesses have a higher chance of recovery if their condition is quickly diagnosed and treated.
"Many sufferers don't accept or even realise that they are ill, and as such, many refuse to undergo treatment," he said.
"Many of them don't even take their prescribed medicines, which may cause memory loss."
Mr Sitthipol said there needs to be an agency responsible for their welfare, as their families are unlikely to be able to afford the cost of treatment.
"Proper measures must be put in place to prevent sufferers of mental illnesses from becoming homeless, as they risk endangering themselves and others," he said.
As such, Mr Sitthipol argued, the government has to step up its efforts and earmark more money to help homeless people with mental illnesses recover and rejoin society.
He said that in some cases, sufferers of mental illnesses become homeless after they are "dropped off" by relatives at psychiatric facilities that are running at full capacity.
"There needs to be some sort of a place that can provide homeless patients with food, clothing, shelter, and the medication that they need until they recover," said Mr Sitthipol.
In addition to basic necessities and treatments, continued Mr Sitthipol, the shelters must also provide rehabilitation and counselling services to keep patients' morale high, so they can return to society.
According to Mr Sitthipol, the places should also provide activities regarding rehabilitation, boosting moral and job training to ensure these patients can reintegrate with society.
The Mirror Foundation recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Department of Social Development and Welfare, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, the Department of Mental Health and the Human Settlement Foundation on the provision of care for homeless people with mental health issues.
Dr Ronnachai Kongsakon, of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, said there are 30,000 homeless people across the country.
"In Bangkok, there are 1,300 homeless people -- 30% of whom suffer from severe psychiatric disorders and pose risks to society," he said.
"About 50% of them have no way of accessing any public health services as they have no identification cards, and are unaware of their rights."
