Thailand warns COVID-19 surge pushing hospitals to the brink

[snoop1130]

Volunteers walk as they prepare to convert an air cargo warehouse into a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) field hospital at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand July 28, 2021. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

(Reuters) - Hospitals in Thailand's capital Bangkok and surrounding province are running out of beds due to a jump in COVID-19 patients, a health official said on Thursday, as the country reported a record number of infections for the fourth time this week.

 

Thailand has in the last few months been struggling with its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, first detected in India.

 

The country's COVID-19 task force reported on Thursday 17,669 coronavirus cases and 165 deaths, both record highs, while it said 21 of the fatalities died at home.

 

"We don't know where to put the sick people anymore, the ER (emergency room) units in many hospitals have to be temporarily closed because they no longer have bed spaces," Somsak Akksilp, head of the Department of Medical Services, told a news conference.

 

In Bangkok and nearby provinces, more than 1,200 people were waiting for hospital beds and over 6,000 called a hot line over the past week requesting treatment, health authorities said.

 

There are more than 37,000 hospital beds in Bangkok, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

 

Earlier in the pandemic, all COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals, but Somsak said authorities last month brought in home isolation for more than 30,000 people in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

 

The government has also been converting public places in Bangkok into temporary field hospital for COVID-19 patients as the spike in cases strains the city's health system.

 

The jump in infections has increased pressure on the government to boost the sluggish pace of vaccinations, with only 5.6% of Thailand's more than 66 million people fully vaccinated.

 

Thailand won plaudits for containing the coronavirus for most of last year, but authorities have struggled to halt the wave of cases starting in April that has taken total infections to 561,030, with 4,562 fatalities.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-07-29

 

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[RotBenz8888]

4 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

with only 5.6% of Thailand's more than 66 million people fully vaccinated.

 

A scandal. 

[sucit]

Maybe the hospitals should think about denying services to non essential patients, you know stuff like boob jobs

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

DISASTER in the making.

Thailand did so well for so long and now all hell broke loose...just

when the sandbox started...

[it is what it is]

i always suspected the early closing of borders was a result of the government's concern about the health service in thailand being able to cope with a large number of cases.

 

one option, which was used in the uk, is for the thai health service to commandeer private health care clinics and hospitals and set up red and green hospitals for dealing with covid cases and essensial other medical procedures. all non-essensial medical procedures should be put on hold

[AnotherFarang8]

Are these all beds for patients that require oxygen? If i were sick with covid, i’d stay far far away from a hospital unless i had difficulties breathing on my own. What kind of treatment can be expected there at these hospitals for the moderately sick? Genuine question.

[MadMac]

Simple solution, stop detaining asymptomatic people. Everybody knows the tests are more than faulty. And even if someone got infected only very few get sick. Reserve hospital resources for the ones that really need it.

[tingtong]

Anyone asymptomatic or mildly sick would be probably better in home isolation.

The only valid reason I can think of that everyone knows ppl aren't law abiding enough to stay in isolation, 90% would be out and about most likely.

The same time, if some tests are about 80% efficient, then 20% who falsely locked up will surely contact covid in one of these mass storage units.

Someone badly need a measuring tape for those distance between the head to head beds?

[RichardColeman]

I cannot help but look at this picture and wonder why they need to mix thousands of people together when the entire country is suffering from about a billion empty hotel rooms ! Cost vs lives I guess

 

[Blumpie]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I cannot help but look at this picture and wonder why they need to mix thousands of people together when the entire country is suffering from about a billion empty hotel rooms ! Cost vs lives I guess

 

If they all have covid who cares?  I would love to sleep head to head like that on my cardboard box and swap stories.  Tell the grandkids if you can remember how to talk after contracting COVID.  

[Scrotobike]

Covid=sick in hospital. Not vaccinating the old means more sick in hospital.

Now get hit by a car and need medical care (eg ICU)....

 

Vaccinate the old and risky - if there is pushback against a particular vaccination - offer a choice but get them vacciated to resolve the hospital problem

[jacko45k]

12 hours ago, sucit said:

Maybe the hospitals should think about denying services to non essential patients, you know stuff like boob jobs

I have not been near a hospital for some time but I wonder what is going on within them. Even if the place is not dealing with Covid victims if a few come through the sliding electric doors, many I know appeared incapable of preventing internal spread... unless they have implemented major changes. Is the young guy with pins in several bones even allowed family visits? In the past they slept nearby!

Edited July 30, 2021 by jacko45k

[Pedrogaz]

12 hours ago, sucit said:

Maybe the hospitals should think about denying services to non essential patients, you know stuff like boob jobs

A boob job specialist can't suddenly become a lung or A&E specialist overnight. Medicine isn't like this.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Pedrogaz said:

A boob job specialist can't suddenly become a lung or A&E specialist overnight. Medicine isn't like this.

Well I guess they are trained doctors to a level and can be of some use. 

[mtls2005]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

with only 5.6% of Thailand's more than 66 million people fully vaccinated.

 

12 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

A scandal. 

 

 

Worse.

 

All of these are sinovac.

 

Only a select few, like the pm, have received two doses of AZ.

 

Second dosses of AZ should start on Monday, if the 8 week interval (from the start of the push on 7 June) is adhered to.

 

Supposedly they received 2.3 mm AZ doses in the past few days - they said this - so maybe more first doses or some second doses?

 

 

[mtls2005]

8 hours ago, MadMac said:

Reserve hospital resources for the ones that really need it.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure a cardboard bed in a cargo warehouse qualifies as a "hospital resource"?

 

 

Imagine there's a fine line between asymptomatic and a mild case?

 

Detaining asymptomatic cases (who've tested positive) seems like the right thing to do, given the level of the epidemic here. But I am no expert, obviously.

[Searat7]

Where do the private hospitals fit into this national emergency ? I have read nothing about them.

[Jimbo2014]

It isnt like this is a surpise.  We had a year and a half to prepare, or not prepare as it is ???? 

[hotchilli]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Hospitals in Thailand's capital Bangkok and surrounding province are running out of beds due to a jump in COVID-19 patients, a health official said on Thursday, as the country reported a record number of infections for the fourth time this week.

Nakhon Pathom... Bang Len

Factory worker:

A friend of mine felt sick Sunday, they went for a test Monday, found to be positive.

Sent home with a fist-full of pills and told to come back Wednesday for a further test.

Wednesday test done... result will take 2-3 days to confirm, go home self isolate..

Thursday, symptoms getting worse, severe headache, sore throat cough, whole body aches, constricted breathing, call to online doctor, take medicine provided we'll call you back Saturday !!!!

Disclaimer: this is not fake news.

[Scouse123]

Well it all comes home to roost!

 

They spend an eternity keeping the masses poor and uneducated and then when they need them to follow the rules, they won't and the clowns wonder why.

 

Up in the sticks, everybody wants to talk about Covid but hardly any want to go get the vaccine because ' their friend said this, that and the other ' This is what happens when you keep people in the dark and feed them bull sh#t.

[hotchilli]

46 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Yeah, I'm not sure a cardboard bed in a cargo warehouse qualifies as a "hospital resource"?

A step up from a tent city or locked in your workplace/camp.

[Scouse123]

54 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

 

 

Worse.

 

All of these are sinovac.

 

Only a select few, like the pm, have received two doses of AZ.

 

Second dosses of AZ should start on Monday, if the 8 week interval (from the start of the push on 7 June) is adhered to.

 

Supposedly they received 2.3 mm AZ doses in the past few days - they said this - so maybe more first doses or some second doses?

 

 

 

I got AZ second week June but second dose is scheduled second week September, not eight weeks!  nearer to 12 weeks.

[Isaan sailor]

Send asymptomatic and mild cases to home for isolation.  Order better vaccines.  That’s all.

[vandeventer]

12 hours ago, AnotherFarang8 said:

Are these all beds for patients that require oxygen? If i were sick with covid, i’d stay far far away from a hospital unless i had difficulties breathing on my own. What kind of treatment can be expected there at these hospitals for the moderately sick? Genuine question.

I always wondered if I went to my hospital which is full and a real mad house as I know people who just walked out after waiting for hours on end. Whether you could pick up more than one variant at a time as there is just so many people in there coming from many places. Now that would be something!

[sapson]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand won plaudits for containing the coronavirus for most of last year,

How ridiculous was that praise, for a policy of making testing very difficult to obtain, the average Thai with symptoms was more likely to be sent home with paracetamol than be given a test unless they paid at a private facility.

 

Negligent testing policies and monitoring followed by totally inadequate planning for vaccine procurement and roll out deserved only the most damning criticism.

[daveAustin]

12 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

DISASTER in the making.

Thailand did so well for so long and now all hell broke loose...just

when the sandbox started...

Did it? As with now you wouldn’t know because testing is so inadequate. The recent wave kicked off way before sandbox and is more likely the result of returning Thais or migrants crossing borders. 

[daveAustin]

12 hours ago, MadMac said:

Simple solution, stop detaining asymptomatic people. Everybody knows the tests are more than faulty. And even if someone got infected only very few get sick. Reserve hospital resources for the ones that really need it.

Shrewd way to discourage testing and help keep numbers artificially low—threaten to hospitalise/imprison all. 

[DavisH]

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

Well it all comes home to roost!

 

They spend an eternity keeping the masses poor and uneducated and then when they need them to follow the rules, they won't and the clowns wonder why.

 

Up in the sticks, everybody wants to talk about Covid but hardly any want to go get the vaccine because ' their friend said this, that and the other ' This is what happens when you keep people in the dark and feed them bull sh#t.

HOw is that differenct from the US and many other countries? Did you see the antivaxxer idiots protesting in Australia last week? The vast majority of Thais want to be vaccinated. The other hesitant ones will change their minds when they see family members and friends dying. 

[DavisH]

1 hour ago, Isaan sailor said:

Send asymptomatic and mild cases to home for isolation.  Order better vaccines.  That’s all.

The problem is that they are infecting whole families this way. And many families simply cannot isolate at home. 

[Stargeezr]

So many posters still seem to think that Thais have their style of

accomodations, 1 bathroom per person, seperate bedrooms for all, etc.

  Wrong. Please get educated,  thanks.

Geezer