Thai King’s Son Urges Public to Keep Politics Out of His Medical Crisis
Thai King’s Son Urges Public to Keep Politics Out of His Medical Crisis
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 28, 2026 — Chakriwat Vivacharawongse, the third son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn, says he has been discharged from intensive care after spending two nights in an ICU in Malaysia and now plans to undergo emergency brain surgery there.
In a Facebook update posted late Sunday night, Chakriwat said he had been transferred from the ICU to a regular hospital room after experiencing severe symptoms, including extreme weakness, difficulty speaking, inability to eat, unusually high blood pressure and worsening cerebral edema.
He said his condition had reached a point where he might no longer be able to wait for treatment and that surgery would be needed soon.
Chakriwat had previously appealed for assistance to return to Thailand for treatment, saying he believed Thai doctors were highly capable. He is now saying that, given the urgency of his condition, he has decided to undergo the emergency surgery in Malaysia instead. The Independent previously reported that he had been receiving treatment in Malaysia and had said he lacked sufficient funds for surgery there or in the United States.
Asks public not to politicise his illness
In his latest statement, Chakriwat asked the public and media not to connect his illness with politics or the Thai monarchy.
He said he did not want his medical condition to be used as a political tool or interpreted through political or ideological lenses.
“I don’t want to be involved in politics, and I am not anyone’s tool,” he said in the statement, according to Thai media reports. He also asked that his illness not be linked to the monarchy.
Chakriwat said he was simply a patient facing a serious medical crisis and wanted to share his experience partly from the perspective of a doctor and someone living with a rare disease.
He said his primary goal was to receive appropriate medical treatment and asked that his illness not be interpreted beyond that.
Urgent surgery remains the focus
The latest update follows his earlier disclosure that his health had deteriorated significantly and that several neurologists he knew had warned that delaying treatment could leave him bedridden or put his life at risk.
On Sept. 18, Chakriwat said he urgently needed brain surgery. Thai media subsequently reported his appeal for help obtaining appropriate treatment.
Chakriwat has publicly discussed living with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) since adolescence, a condition associated with tumours affecting nerves and structures in the brain and spinal cord. He has also previously undergone multiple surgeries and radiotherapy treatments.
The latest public updates are based primarily on Chakriwat’s own statements. No independent medical report has been publicly released detailing the precise nature, size or location of the condition requiring the emergency operation.
For now, Chakriwat’s message is focused on one priority: obtaining urgent medical treatment.
His appeal also carries a broader human message — that a person’s life and access to medical care should not become secondary to political interpretations or ideological disputes.
As he continues treatment in Malaysia, his latest request is for the public to focus on his condition as a medical and human matter rather than turning his illness into a political controversy.
