Thai health system nears capacity as Covid-19 infection surge rises
Thailand’s public health system is reaching a critical point, with hospitals at full capacity and Covid-19 infections rising by tens of thousands per day, a medical expert warned on Saturday.
Dr Chalermchai Boonyaleepun, deputy chairman of the Senate committee on public health, said that if the number of daily cases exceeds 30,000 within the next week or two, finding hospital beds for new patients would be more difficult.
The health system is capable of treating only 120,000 more Covid-19 patients over the next two weeks, he added in a Blockdit social media post.
He suggested that patients with mild symptoms should be moved from main hospitals to field hospitals, as public and private hospitals are now at full capacity treating over 64,000 Covid patients.
Almost 49,000 patients are being treated at field hospitals, so they are still capable of admitting about 50,000 more, he said.
Almost 29,000 people with Covid-19 are in home isolation as they have no serious symptoms. They are provided with medication. The Thai public health system is capable of dealing with 70,000 more such cases, according to Dr Chalermchai, formerly a lecturer at Srinakharinwirot University’s Faculty of Medicine.
“An important principle is that main hospitals should take care of patients with medium to serious symptoms. People with mild conditions should be at field hospitals, and infected people with no symptoms should be in home isolation,” he wrote.
The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 via both PCR and ATK tests has neared 30,000 per day in recent days. Meanwhile the number of cases needing treatment has exceeded 10,000 per day.
