Key problems targeted
Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew is targeting a slew of problems in the hope of launching ‘Sandbox v2’ so that tourism to Phuket may remain open and continue to generate much-needed income for people living on the island.
“The situation with COVID-19 cases increasing after the New Year’s festival may be a public concern, but I confirm there is no idea to close the island in any way,” Governor Narong said last Wednesday (Jan 5).
“Due to what has been carried out all along, there are two main issues, namely solving the problems of feeding the people, along with disease control,” he added.
“From the Delta era to the Omicron era, we have been able to control the disease to a satisfactory level before the new year, and at the same time also help with the economic recovery… The economic recovery is going well, but in the field of disease control, we have to think about how to live with COVID-19,” he said.
KEY PROBLEMS
Governor Narong last Wednesday also chaired a meeting at the Phuket Sandbox Operations Center to highlight key issues affecting tourists wanting to come to Phuket.
Vice Governor Pichet Panapong explained that four key issues were directly affecting tourists that the national government needs to attend to.
“The problem of delays in the approval of Thailand Pass for foreign tourists. There are not enough staff resulting in late approval,” was one key issue.
“The province [Phuket provincial government] proposes to bring to the Ministry of Interior to discuss with the CCSA the power to approve foreign tourists traveling into Thailand via Thailand Pass at Phuket Airport. This is currently not the jurisdiction of the Phuket Provincial Government.
“We need the integration of relevant agencies to establish a one-stop service centre and the people, budget, location and tools that must be able to work 24 hours a day.
“We also must establish a Call Center to answer all the problems of foreign tourists, which is beyond the potential and beyond the power of Phuket provincial government,” Vice Governor Pichet said.
The second problem was Phuket’s capability to conduct the second mandatory RT-PCR tests for foreign tourists. “This is not enough for the increasing number of tourists,” V/Gov Pichet said.
Action has already been taken to call in support from the Ministry of Public health Region 11 office as well as hospitals and other private medical service providers to cope with the increasing load, he said.
“Five mobile lab vehicles will be coming. The first two mobile labs arrived on Jan 4, an additional 1,200 people will be tested for infection per day and we have adjusted the lab method to a full sample. We have also set up a call center to coordinate with SHA+ managers. An option is to increase the cost of the second PCR test, which should be an incentive for private hospitals to join and take more action to support us,” he added.
V/Gov Pichet also raised the issue of not enough hospitel rooms on the island for tourists who test positive are designated ‘green’ patients (experiencing only mild symptoms of infection).
“The problem is that the number of Hospital Isolation and Hotel Isolation rooms is not enough to support the number of Green patients,” he said plainly.
“The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, Vachira Phuket Hospital and the Thai Hotels Association Southern chapter are negotiating with hotels to open up as a Hospitel, or convert some rooms to Hotel Isolation to accommodate their own positive customers without being pushed to stay elsewhere,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Vachira Phuket Hospital is currently exploring and evaluating more hotels that voluntarily want to become a hospitel. It is expected that we will be able to add another 200 rooms,” he added.
The fourth key issue was insurance companies not willing to cover expenses for tourists designated ‘Green’ patients.
“We propose that the CCSA prescribe measures for incoming foreign tourists that they must be insured with Thai insurance companies in order to solve the problem,” he said.