If you are pregnant in Bangkok and worried about getting stuck in the city’s horrendous traffic jams while on your way to give birth, don’t worry. Bangkok’s traffic police are being trained in how to deliver babies by the side of the road, after numerous incidents of Thai police officers having to deliver them in traffic on some of Bangkok’s busy roads.
In fact, in the last 15 years, more than 100 babies have been delivered by Bangkok traffic cops, and that number will probably get higher as the city’s traffic jams worsen.
The “How to deliver babies if you’re a Bangkok cop” training course takes one day and this year, for the first time, 10 of Bangkok’s women police officers are also being included on the course.
There is a thought some women giving birth may prefer it if there is another woman around to help.
In the training, police officers are taught not only how to deliver babies, but how to take care of the child once it is been born, including suctioning fluid out of the baby’s mouth.
It seems to us it might be well worth your while giving birth in your car on a busy Bangkok street if there is a traffic cop around.
After all, it would be cheaper than paying hospital fees in one of the local maternity wards. Police are also trained to keep away all the bystanders who are desperate to take your photo.
So you are not likely to end up on the internet in a compromising position either.