Ministry adds more beds to Nonthaburi field hospital
The Public Health Ministry will increase the capacity of Bussarakham Field Hospital to 4,000 beds in a bid to cope with a possible surge in infections from the Delta variant of Covid-19.
The hospital is in Nonthaburi’s Impact Muang Thong Thani and serves metropolitan Bangkok.
“The ministry recently added 1,500 beds, bringing the total capacity to 3,700 beds and will add another 300 beds to accommodate 4,000 patients,” Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.
“Bussarakham Field Hospital treats patients in yellow and green categories to alleviate crowding at hospitals in Bangkok.”
Yellow-category patients are those who have moderate symptoms with underlying health issues that require close monitoring, while green-category patients are those who have tested positive but are asymptomatic or have minor symptoms.
Since its establishment on May 14, Bussarakham Field Hospital has admitted 5,064 patients, 3,055 of whom have recovered and been discharged, while 167 have been transferred to other hospitals.
The hospital has 319 free beds at present.
“Field hospitals take care of yellow- and green-category patients so other hospitals have the capacity to treat more serious patients, including those in the red-category or Covid-19 patients who require respirators,” said Anutin. “We need to add more beds to field hospitals as patients in yellow- and green-categories in Bangkok have been rising rapidly.”