BANGKOK: As Thailand’s medical system struggles beneath a surge of COVID-19 cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who have fallen through the cracks.
A volunteer from the Saimai Will Survive group in protective gear talks to a woman infected with COVID-19 on her condition while checking her blood pressure and blood oxygen levels, Jul 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand’s predicament is stark. Around 15,000 new cases are confirmed each day and still more people are getting infected. In Bangkok alone, 20,000 people are waiting for a hospital bed.So homespun heroes like Ekapob and his group - buying equipment and supplies with public donations - are an essential safety net, gaining crucial time for both patients and a healthcare system under severe strain.
“Grandma can’t get tested, so she lies sick in bed. If we want to send her to the hospital, they will ask for her test result. So we are back in a circle, because we would ask them to do the test,” Ekapob says, looking in through the window.After a check, his team members decide she is not in imminent danger. They hook her up with oxygen, then it is back into the night and on to the next case.
“My mother showed bad symptoms from the beginning. I called and called to tell them my mom couldn’t handle this anymore, but nobody came. The nurses kept saying there were no beds,” said Piyawan Kodduang, fighting back tears.Most fatalities occur in private. But not all. Last week, a body lay for hours in a Bangkok street, incurring the wrath of an embarrassed prime minister.
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