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Subject: |
Portrait painting of
H.R.H. Prince
Mahidon Adunyadet,
Prince of Songkhla
and the
Prince Father, i.e. the father
of both King
Ananda Mahidol
(Rama VIII)
and King
Bhumipol Adulyadej (Rama IX).
He was a son of
King
Chulalongkorn (Rama V)
with Queen Sawang Wattana (Savang Vadhana) of whom he
was the 7th child. Educated
as a MD, is widely known as the
Father of
Modern Medicine and Public Health in Thailand.
He was a resident
doctor in a missionary-run hospital in
Chiang Mai,
and was
the Thai Government's delegate to
negotiate with the Rockefeller Foundation for medical aid (fig.).
In the top right is the logo of the
100th Anniversary of Thai
Public Health, i.e. an elongated golden
vajra-like
torch
(fig.)
with in green a stylized Thai number 100 (๑๐๐)
that coils around the handle of the torch
like a
snake
(fig.),
epitomizing the medical rod of Asclepius, i.e. a
serpent-entwined rod wielded by the ancient Greek god of
medicine and a symbol associated with medicine and health
care. In
Thailand, the colour green is, alongside with the Red Cross
as symbol of the
Thai Red Cross Society,
the accepted colour commonly used for things related to
health and medical care, such as pharmacies and hospitals,
that usually are indicated by a symbol in green, such as a
green cross, a green star of life, a green rod of Asclepius,
etc. |
