BANGKOK – Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha approved 1.5-billion-baht budget for the Public Health Ministry to buy medicines and medical equipment from China and Japan to cope with the Covid-19 spread in Thailand.
Dr Sukhum Kanchanapimai, Permanent Secretary for Public Health said the budget would be spent on buying 340,000 Favipiravir pills, the antiviral drug, used to treat the Covid-19 from China and Japan under the government-to-government deals.
The new stock of Fevipiravir will be adequate for treatment of 6,000 patients, suffering from severe pneumonia.
Two million N95 face masks and two million personal protection equipment (PPE) suits will be also procured for medical staff under the budget.
A new center will be set up to manage and distribute Covid-19 medicines and medical supplies. After the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) finished the deal to purchase medical supplies, the government will arrange airplanes to receive them.
Regarding reports of medical staff, contracting the coronavirus, he said initially, surgical masks will be sent to health personnel at all levels to protect themselves while on duty. (TNA)
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