Thai Public Health Min holds daily MERS surveillance meeting

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MOPH holds daily MERS surveillance meeting

NONTHABURI, 22 June 2015 (NNT) – Daily meetings of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) continues to monitor the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) situation, while the HSS has urged private hospitals and clinics to follow common practices in coping with the MERS case.

The MOPH’s MERS surveillance daily meeting continues to assess the risk factor of the disease today, based on the epidemic information within Thailand and abroad. The meeting has established a team of academics to suggest relevant options and new measures to deal with future cases.

In the meeting today, the Bureau of Public Health Emergency Response has reported that 47 special patient rooms are now available at hospitals in Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan Province. The burea has also ordered Nakhon Phatom, Nonthaburi, Samut Sakhon, and Chachoengsao provinces to provide additional patient rooms and to establish an isolation criteria for inspection procedures, plan escape preventing measures, and assess the risks of current communication and management performances.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health Service Support (HSS) has today invited delegates from private clinics and hospitals in the Greater Bangkok Area for a meeting to determine the guidelines and practices which should be enacted to cope with the MERS case.

The HSS stated that hospitals should enforce strict screenings of patients, especially for persons traveling from country where the MERS disease has been confirmed. Hospitals equipped with low pressure isolation rooms should assume the role to treat these suspected MERS patents.

Hospitals are not allowed to decline the admittance of patients. Hospitals without adequate facilities are required to contact the MOPH for patient referring to contain the spread of the virus. The decision to refer a patient should be a shared responsibility between the patient and the related authorities.


-- NNT 2015-06-22