More than 100 doctors sent to Bangkok as Covid-19 deaths hit a record high

While PM Prayut Chan-o-cha attends the welcoming of foreign tourists under the “Phuket Sandbox” reopening scheme, more doctors have been sent to Bangkok following a spike in Covid-19 cases and a record high in coronavirus deaths.

Hospitals in the capital, the epicentre in the latest and most severe wave, are experiencing a shortage of beds in intensive care units to care for Covid patients who are in critical condition. The situation in Bangkok has become a “crisis,” according to deputy permanent secretary for public health, Thongchai Kiratihatthayakon.

“Now, Bangkok and the surrounding provinces are in a real crisis, patients are beginning to die at home… In Thailand, this should not be so, we should not be forced to choose which patient will survive and which one will be left to die.”

With a limited number of medical personnel to care for the growing number of Covid-19 patients, the Public Health Ministryhas sent 144 doctors from several provinces across Thailand to help the situation in Bangkok. Many of the doctors recently graduated from medical school and specialise in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, infectious diseases and critical care medicine.

At a ceremony for the newly-recruited doctors, Thongchai said the current situation at hospitals is “not manageable, that’s why we want you all.”

“In our life, we have never experienced something like World War II but we are now in a war where all countries around the world are struggling to fight against this disease… You are our strength.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post