The Ministry of Public Health has welcomed volunteer healthcare professionals from outside Bangkok to help with proactive COVID-19 screening inside the capital by 39 rapid response units, the goal being to screen 250,000 people in seven days.
The Ministry of Public Health’s (MOPH) Permanent Secretary Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit today inspected the operations of the Comprehensive COVID-19 Response (CCR) teams, set up by a group of volunteering healthcare professionals across the country to help with proactive COVID-19 screening in Bangkok.
The CCR teams are mainly be responsible for providing free COVID-19 screening using antigen test kits in communities, enabling infected persons to self-isolate at home or at a community isolation center, to cut down the chain of transmission.
One of the CCR teams’ missions today was a proactive COVID-19 screening event at Makkasan community in Bangkok, where teams of healthcare workers from Mahasarakham province work together with volunteers from Zen Dai volunteer network.
Villagers testing positive at these events are registered for at home telemedicine monitoring and drug delivery, however patients with more serious symptoms are immediately sent to a hospital.
The Rural Doctors’ Society and the Ministry of Public Health have helped mobilize 39 CCR teams comprised of family doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical technicians from across the country to help run proactive COVID-19 screenings in Bangkok from today until 10th August. Another CCR team is also assembling, bringing the total number of teams available in Bangkok to 40.
The Ministry of Public Health has provided 300,000 antigen test kits to the CCR teams, with 35,000 tests estimated to be performed daily.
A target of 250,000 tests within seven days has been set, where health officials expect around 15%, or around 32,500 people, will test positive. The Ministry of Public Health has also provided at least 600,000 Favipiravir tablets, as it is estimated a third of the new patients will require this antiviral drug.
The MOPH Permanent Secretary said the ministry will be procuring 80 million more Favipiravir tablets to ensure a sufficient supply, with around 200,000 tablets now reserved for Bangkok, which should be sufficient to supply patients who need them for seven days.
He said the quantity could change depending on how many new cases are found, so medical authorities must ensure that enough of the drug is available for patients as they are identified. (NNT)
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