Last month's tsunami disaster in Thailand's six southern Andaman provinces has caused about 800 victims to become disabled, the Department of Medical Services said Monday.

The Department of Medical Services was quoted by the Thai News Agency as saying in a statement that among the 800 victims who have suffered from movement disability from the tsunamis, 33 have become severe disabled persons.

The Department of Medical Services has dispatched medical teams to assist the disabled victims.

The assistance includes plans for their physical rehabilitation based on first-hand information on their levels of disability from a field survey in the tsunami-hit areas, and provision of artificial limbs, or clutches or wheelchairs for them.

The Department of Medical Services said that operations to replace artificial organs for some tsunami patients would be conducted over the next couple of months.

The Dec. 26 tsunamis hit the kingdom's six southern coastal provinces, including Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun, leaving over 5,300 dead, over 8,400 injured and thousands of others still missing. Thousands of the tsunami victims are foreign tourists.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2005)