Armed forces ready thousands of beds
The three armed forces and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have organised nearly 5,000 beds in field hospitals around the country to cope with the surging number of Covid-18 infections.
The government and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration had instructed the army to set up field hospitals with emergency facilities, following the deteriorating situation, said deputy army spokesman Col Sirichan Ngathong.
So far, 12 field hospitals with a combined capacity of 2,220 beds had been set up by the army to treat Covid19 patients.
The army’s 200-bed field hospital in Bangkok is located at the 1st Air Defence Regiment on Chaeng Watthana Road.
In Chiang Mai, forces from the 7th Infantry Division and 33rd Military Circle helped transport beds from hotels and set up equipment at a field hospital inside the Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention
Centre in Muang district.
The field hospital has operated since April 9 with the help of volunteers and has a capacity of 400–1,000 beds. The 33rd Military Circle said it is ready to set up another field hospital at its training centre.
On Sunday the army provided 200 sets of metal beds with bedding for a field hospital at the Bang Khun Thian Geriatric Hospital in Bangkok, taking its capacity from 300 to 500 beds, Col Sirichan said.
In Prachuap Khiri Khan, the army’s infantry centre sent 70 sets of beds with bedding to Hua Hin Hospital for the establishment of a field hospital at the Hua Hin Commercial College.
Meanwhile, the navy has set up three field hospitals with the total capacity of 726 beds, according to navy spokesman Adm Chettha Chaipiem.
The first one has 320 beds and is located at the Air and Coastal Defence Command in Sattahip district, Chon Buri. Forty-six new Covid-19 patients have been transferred there and it currently is treating 147 patients.
The second field hospital, with 174 beds, is located at Phra Maha Jetsadaratchao Camp in Chon Buri, while the third, at the 16th training field at Ban Chanthakhlem in Chanthaburi, has 232 beds.
A state quarantine facility in Sattahip is housing 30 naval officers after they were in contact with an infected lieutenant who visited Ban Chanthakhlem earlier this month to observe a military practice.
A source reported that the air force had also prepared 50 beds at the Royal Thai Air Force Hospital for Covid-19 patients. Two other field hospitals with the capacity of 156 and 90 beds respectively have been set up by the air force in Bangkok.
The air force is transforming a state quarantine facility at Kamphaengsaen Flying Training School in Nakhon Pathom into a 340-bed field hospital and the BMA has also prepared 1,250 beds in field hospitals across Bangkok.