Thailand: Hospitals appeal for aid against COVID-19

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Hospitals in Thailand’s border areas have appealed for donations of medical supplies, saying they were running low on stocks after the first wave of pandemic and surge of patients from neighboring Myanmar, a local daily reported Monday.

According to Bangkok Post, the request for donations was made public by Nattagarn Chuenchom, a physician at Mae Sot Hospital.

In her Facebook post, Dr. Nattagarn described the hardship and financial burdens faced by state-run hospitals in the Thai-Myanmar border area, the report said.

It added that hospitals need N95 masks, surgical masks and personal protective equipment.

The doctor said other supplies that the border hospitals need include waterproof medical gowns, adding that they also welcome cash that can be donated directly to the hospitals.

"Now our stocks are running low from the first round of outbreak containment. Our budget is also drying up. We have almost nothing left now," the daily quoted Nattagarn as saying.

The doctor said she was unsure if her hospital will be able to cope as efficiently as it had done previously.

"We're serving as a frontline defense against transmission of disease. But we need to make sure that we won't create a humanitarian crisis at the same time," said Nattagarn.

Sometimes, she added, Myanmar patients were rushed to the hospital in critical condition from the other side of the border, and hospitals could not turn them away.