COVID-19 patients will receive free treatments at registered hospitals based on their medical benefits and coverage from Friday, as Thailand presses ahead with the post-pandemic adoption of the disease.
This change will effectively end the COVID UCEP Plus program which provides free treatments at private hospitals, and end the Home Isolation and Community Isolation programs.
Dr. Atthaporn Limpanyalert, Deputy Secretary-General at the National Health Security Office, said the 1330 hotline will remain in service to provide basic screening and help find hospital beds.
Meanwhile, patients with serious conditions and emergency patients will still get free treatments at private hospitals based on the Universal Coverage Emergency for Patient (UCEP) scheme, with the 1669 hotline assessing their eligibility.
Testing for COVID-19 will be arranged based on the Department of Disease Control’s guidelines.
With concerns about the possible uptick in new cases, Deputy Minister of Public Health Satit Pitutacha said the healthcare system has the capacity to handle future cases, while the bed occupancy rates in Bangkok and other provinces are lower than estimated, meaning a large number of beds are still available.
He mentioned that the ministry will need to monitor the spread of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants to see whether they will drive up daily case numbers. (NNT)
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