“In large hospitals, all (intensive care units) are overcrowded. They have 10 ICU beds, but they have to deal with 12 ICU cases,” he said, adding that once the beds are vacated, medical staff will remove critically ill patients from Emergency room transfer.
Hospitals in the capital have the capacity to handle 1,000 new patients every day, but Somsak said they have far exceeded that number-in Bangkok alone, 4,000 new cases were recorded on Thursday.
Somsak said that although the authorities began to recommend home isolation for milder cases, there were problems in providing them with medicines.
In addition, the city’s isolation and quarantine facilities have been filled, and the city government is working with private hospitals to free up more beds.
“But I must say frankly-no matter how much we increase, it will not be enough to deal with the current epidemic,” Somsak said.
