Medical facilities told to inform dept on Covid-19 tests

By The Nation

 

 

Department of Disease Control under the Ministry of Public Health has instructed all medical facilities that conduct lab tests for Covid-19 infection to inform the department of the results, adding that failure to do so will lead to a fine of Bt20,000 each.

 

Dr Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai, Director-General of Department of Disease Control, said Covid-19 disease is dangerous contagious disease under the Communicable Disease Act, 2015 BE which states that medical centres must inform the department within three hours after a person is confirmed or suspected to be infected with the virus.

 

“Department officials will determine whether the person tested should be exempted from any cost for the medical examination," he said.

 

Dr Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Director of the Bureau of General Communicable Diseases, said free examination would be provided to person showing symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, sneezing or panting, and to those who have returned from high-risk countries, or working with foreign tourists. The offer extends to their family members at both government and private medical centres nationwide.

 

Meanwhile, Dr Opart Karnkawinpong, Director-General of the Department of Medical Sciences said that in addition to Regional Medical Sciences Centres nationwide and Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Disease Health Science Centre at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, people can take Covid-19 examination at Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University and Prince of Songkla University, Siriraj Hospital, Ramathibodi Hospital, Rajavithi Hospital, Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute, and Bumrungrad International Hospital.

 

“Other medical centres which seek to conduct Covid-19 examination must pass the evaluation process and proficiency test of the department. They must have qualified medical technicians, standardised tools and laboratories,” Dr Opart added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30383038

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-02-28

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

13 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Department of Disease Control under the Ministry of Public Health has instructed all medical facilities that conduct lab tests for Covid-19 infection to inform the department of the results, adding that failure to do so will lead to a fine of Bt20,000 each.

That seems to give the impression that up to now this hasn't been happening?

That is slightly surreal, every country in the world is counting cases and Thailand is only now asking hospitals to report centrally, have I got this wrong?

Wonder how they know about the 40 cases so far .........Facebook posts ??

5 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Wonder how they know about the 40 cases so far .........Facebook posts ??

Judging by the above article, that perhaps may not be too far from the truth.

27 minutes ago, saengd said:

That is slightly surreal, every country in the world is counting cases and Thailand is only now asking hospitals to report centrally, have I got this wrong?

No you haven't got it wrong it's always been the plan after being first on the list after China it made Thailand "look" unsafe now that Thailand is 12th after China they can restart the reporting process.

1 minute ago, FarFlungFalang said:

No you haven't got it wrong it's always been the plan after being first on the list after China it made Thailand "look" unsafe now that Thailand is 12th after China they can restart the reporting process.

Ooh, how cynical. Sounds like that could be right.

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

That seems to give the impression that up to now this hasn't been happening?

Vertigo...

 

It's not an impression... It's a hard fact....

 

First they don't test.

 

Then they test with very selective criteria (you're almost dead, your lungs are turning into dust... but hey ! you're not coming back from Japan or Wuhan... you don't have a "travel history" -naughty boy- so take a paracetamol, calm down and go back home).

 

Then it takes them days even weeks (to decide to test, then to process the test, then to compile the result, and eventualy to announce the result)

 

And now... well... "we don't know"... A few hospitals might do a few tests (?), with positive results (lottery ?), but then they use the printed paper (with the result on it) as toilet paper or wrapping paper...

 

No "center". No database. Perhaps a phone call, if we are lucky. Or a fax perhaps ?

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

“Other medical centres which seek to conduct Covid-19 examination must pass the evaluation process and proficiency test of the department. They must have qualified medical technicians, standardised tools and laboratories,” Dr Opart added.

nCoV2019 testing was initially centralized so there was little need for central reporting. Sounds like they are rapidly decentralizing and opening up to all medical faculties willing to qualify for PRC testing.

 

Getting ready for something? I've been going to Mongutwattana Hospital every 2-3 days for my wife to have a wound cleaned. Just Wednesday they began mandatory temperature screening at all entrances. 

 

Testing is free if you cough, sneeze, and pant hard enough! I wonder if that extends to farangs without masks.

7 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Department officials will determine whether the person tested should be exempted from any cost for the medical examination," he said.

not sure I need to comment on that 

 

It seems Thailand is billing people to get tested WTH...……...What the Hell

6 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

No you haven't got it wrong it's always been the plan after being first on the list after China it made Thailand "look" unsafe now that Thailand is 12th after China they can restart the reporting process.

They are not going to report anything that has a negative effect on tourism, that has been clear to me for the last 4 weeks - how many cases in Thailand - well going by models elsewhere in the world - Thailand has thousands - but hey maybe they are the exception  

 

The constant news here is about the impact on tourism and the money while sensible governments recognise the threat - Thailand doesn't seem to fit the profile, I really do hope I am wrong - it would be a travesty if I am not

 

If Thailand is covering up what is really going on and they are hiding (not testing) the real figures ............well if you don't test there is nothing to report is there ? and at 9000baht a pop - who is turning up for tests anyway ?

 

What country in the world right now is charging people to get tested ?  seriously ?

 

W T Flip

 

I hope I am wrong   

6 hours ago, rabas said:

Getting ready for something? I've been going to Mongutwattana Hospital every 2-3 days for my wife to have a wound cleaned. Just Wednesday they began mandatory temperature screening at all entrances.

I don't think that's it. Until now the Thai public has been pretty relaxed about this, but the last few cases and especially the guy who lied and denied going to Japan meanwhile infecting two of his family members blew up both in news and social media. The government, as usual, are just pretending to do something about it. In reality nothing can be done - this isn't a virus that can be stopped (according to experts), and it doesn't matter anyway because Thailand weather is too hot for it to become a serious issue.

 

It took Wuhan just over a month from first case to thousands of people hospitalized. Thailand had it's first cases (not to mention hordes of Chinese tourists) a lot longer than a month ago, and hospitals are not overflowing with sick people. If something drastic was going to happen, we'd know about it by now. It didn't and it won't.

8 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Dr Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Director of the Bureau of General Communicable Diseases, said free examination would be provided to person showing symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, sneezing or panting, and to those who have returned from high-risk countries, or working with foreign tourists. The offer extends to their family members at both government and private medical centres nationwide.

do they have to travel to get tested if they are feeling ill ?

 

Bus Taxi BTS Train ?

8 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Department of Disease Control under the Ministry of Public Health has instructed all medical facilities that conduct lab tests for Covid-19 infection to inform the department of the results

how about informing everyone of the results including the World Health Organisation

40 cases...lol

Multiply by 100 and you'd be near the real number.

I wonder how many hospitals actually have testing kits

1 hour ago, smedly said:

 and at 9000baht a pop - who is turning up for tests anyway ?

 

What country in the world right now is charging people to get tested ?  seriously ?

 

W T Flip

 

I hope I am wrong   

The US charge $3500 and if you are lucky your insurance may pay 50%.

Edited February 28, 20206 yr by Tayaout

5 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

The US charge $3500 and if you are lucky your insurance may pay 50%.

for what ?

7 minutes ago, smedly said:

for what ?

To test for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). 

Edited February 28, 20206 yr by Tayaout

2 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

To test for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). 

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-test-medical-bill-china-us-miami-osmel-martinez-azcue-a9358146.html

8 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

To test for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). 

what like a walk in clinic - test me for this

 

you know what - I'm going to Tayaout of this conversation before I get rude

1 hour ago, smedly said:

They are not going to report anything that has a negative effect on tourism, that has been clear to me for the last 4 weeks - how many cases in Thailand - well going by models elsewhere in the world - Thailand has thousands - but hey maybe they are the exception  

 

The billion dollar question for me is why the number of confirmed cases is so low in all the Western Pacific countries, with the exception of Korea. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia even Singapore are very low to quite low. The easy answer is the true numbers are being covered up, but by all those countries? I wonder if temperature doesn't play a role in the transmission of the virus, I just find it incredibly hard to believe that Thailand alone would disguise or hide the true numbers and all their neighbors have followed suit, it makes no sense whatsoever.

 

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200228-sitrep-39-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=aa1b80a7_2

13 minutes ago, saengd said:

The billion dollar question for me is why the number of confirmed cases is so low in all the Western Pacific countries, with the exception of Korea. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia even Singapore are very low to quite low. The easy answer is the true numbers are being covered up, but by all those countries? I wonder if temperature doesn't play a role in the transmission of the virus, I just find it incredibly hard to believe that Thailand alone would disguise or hide the true numbers and all their neighbors have followed suit, it makes no sense whatsoever.

 

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200228-sitrep-39-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=aa1b80a7_2

the other countries you mention did not have the same level of tourists from China over the last 2 months - not even close, the focus has now changed to those other countries and yet Thailand is almost virus free - come to your own conclusions as we all will but something really stinks about the stats 

 

Has anyone noticed the supply of bread has dried up - very simple thing but I have been unable to buy my fav loaf all this week - why is that ?, I have asked in 7/11 and familymart and they just say they cannot get - why ?

 

anyway we all have our opinions about this place we live - for me something just isn't adding up - it would take a lot to convince me otherwise 

3 minutes ago, smedly said:

the other countries you mention did not have the same level of tourists from China over the last 2 months - not even close, the focus has now changed to those other countries and yet Thailand is almost virus free - come to your own conclusions as we all will but something really stinks about the stats 

 

That is not true, Vietnam saw 18 million tourists last year, almost 6 million of them were Chinese. In January alone there was almost 650,000 Chinese tourist visits, if I recall that's more than visited Thailand that month!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Vietnam

 

 

1 hour ago, Vigilante said:

40 cases...lol

Multiply by 100 and you'd be near the real number.

I wonder how many hospitals actually have testing kits

This article clearly states which Hospitals have test kits, how additional hospitals can qualify to get them and how hospitals must report. That's the subject of the article.

 

Edited February 29, 20206 yr by rabas

54 minutes ago, saengd said:

The billion dollar question for me is why the number of confirmed cases is so low in all the Western Pacific countries, with the exception of Korea. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia even Singapore are very low to quite low. The easy answer is the true numbers are being covered up, but by all those countries? I wonder if temperature doesn't play a role in the transmission of the virus, I just find it incredibly hard to believe that Thailand alone would disguise or hide the true numbers and all their neighbors have followed suit, it makes no sense whatsoever.

 

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200228-sitrep-39-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=aa1b80a7_2

The billion dollar question for me is "does any body know what the unconfirmed case number is and hence what the fatality rate is.Nobody knows if it's the same as the normal flu or not yet the media are state what they think is the fatality rate without saying they don't know.Why?Why are they allowed to do this scaremongering?

Edited February 29, 20206 yr by FarFlungFalang

2 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

The billion dollar question for me is "does any body know what the unconfirmed case number is and hence what the fatality rate is.Nobody knows if it's the same as the normal flu or not yet the media are state what they think is the fatality rate without saying they don't know.Why?Why are they allowed to do this scaremongering?

There are reasonable estimates of case fatality rates. It is way beyond the flu. Watch this 3 minute BBC interview with a doctor treating patients in a Wuhan hospital. I trust him more that media experts.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-51660852/coronavirus-on-the-front-line-in-wuhan

31 minutes ago, rabas said:

There are reasonable estimates of case fatality rates. It is way beyond the flu. Watch this 3 minute BBC interview with a doctor treating patients in a Wuhan hospital. I trust him more that media experts.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-51660852/coronavirus-on-the-front-line-in-wuhan

There you go you said it's way beyond the flu without having any idea of what the infection rate is.Even the doctor in the video has no idea of the unconfirmed cases and can only go on the cases that he sees.Out of the millions of people in Wuhan the more severe cases get funnelled to his ward.I don't know what the fatality rate is so I'm not going to make definitive type of statements about things like fatality rates that scare the bejesus out of people who don't know how to process how baseless claims.If you are sure about this virus  being "way beyond the flu"  can you please provide definitive data to support you claim apart from "reasonable estimates" which are nothing like definitive data to be used to make definitive statements.I would trust the doctor would also be apprehensive about making definitive statements about death rates without definitive data.I hope you understand that my argument is about people making definitive statements because I'm a pedant.With the virus being so contagious and so hard to track along with so many having symptoms so similar to other flu related diseases adds to the problem.Just to finish off I'm not trying to argue that this is not a serious problem or that it should be treated lightly. 

7 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

There you go you said it's way beyond the flu without having any idea of what the infection rate is.Even the doctor in the video has no idea of the unconfirmed cases and can only go on the cases that he sees.Out of the millions of people in Wuhan the more severe cases get funnelled to his ward.I don't know what the fatality rate is so I'm not going to make definitive type of statements about things like fatality rates that scare the bejesus out of people who don't know how to process how baseless claims.If you are sure about this virus  being "way beyond the flu"  can you please provide definitive data to support you claim apart from "reasonable estimates" which are nothing like definitive data to be used to make definitive statements.I would trust the doctor would also be apprehensive about making definitive statements about death rates without definitive data.I hope you understand that my argument is about people making definitive statements because I'm a pedant.With the virus being so contagious and so hard to track along with so many having symptoms so similar to other flu related diseases adds to the problem.Just to finish off I'm not trying to argue that this is not a serious problem or that it should be treated lightly. 

We won't know until it is finished. There is some link here: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-72000-covid-19-patients-finds-23-death-rate

I will have more confidence in the numbers when I see what the fatality rate is in countries outside China, all the indicators are the Chinese stats. are very unreliable.

5 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

We won't know until it is finished. There is some link here: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-72000-covid-19-patients-finds-23-death-rate

   Well we probably will not know because of the 80% of cases that get the infection will have recovered without life threatening complications.This statement I've just made is a "reasonable estimate" in other words a "guess" on my part without definitive data to support it but note that I've inserted the word "probably" which is not definitive.We have been brainwashed into accepting these definitive statements as something akin to fact and make irrational decisions and statements perpetuating misconceptions without accommodating the idea that a "reasonable estimate" is a guess.

To "know" when this is finish one would have to test everybody (not nearly everybody) with a conclusive test that can if indicate that someone has been infected even though they have recovered.

    Sorry Tayout that most of my answer is directed at rabas's post.

    Not only will you have to test everyone alive but one would have to test everybody that has died since the outbreak started even though many will have been cremated which I would imagine would be somewhat difficult.