BMA opens care centre for children with virus

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has opened a care centre for children with Covid-19 who must be temporarily separated from their families.

Government House’s Thai Kufah webpage said the centre was up and running at the health centre in Dusit district catering to Covid-19 sufferers who are 3-14 years old.

The centre is run by a team of doctors, nurses, public health officials and day-care volunteers around the clock.

If the young sufferers’ conditions worsen, they will be referred to hospitals immediately, according to the webpage.

The centre organises fun activities and gives the youngsters toys to play with to keep them occupied and ease the stress from being away from their families, whose members were in some cases themselves infected and undergoing treatment.

In other cases, the parents are not infected but their children who contracted the virus must be away from home to receive treatment.

Families whose children require treatment for Covid-19 can contact the Erawan Centre hotline at 1669 extension 2.

Meanwhile, the army is launching a one-stop-service centre for screening and treating those with Covid-19 at the 11th Army Circle in Bangkok, according to a source in the army.

Two gymnasiums and a new building located at the circle are being turned into a facility capable of testing up to 4,000 people per day for the virus.

If they test positive, they will be subject to a lung x-ray and given a consultation with a doctor immediately.

If their conditions are determined to be mild, they will go into a home isolation programme where they will be regularly provided with medicine during treatment with daily follow-up of their condition via the telemedicine method.

Should they develop moderate or severe symptoms during diagnosis, they will be admitted to the circle’s own field hospital with beds and equipment available for treatment, the source said.

The circle already operates a field hospital, which was opened on July 3, offering 178 intensive care unit (ICU) beds. More field hospitals are being established at the circle to look after Covid-19 patients of all conditions.

The 11th Army Circle’s one-stop-service medical centre will be the second such facility run by the force in Bangkok after the first opened its doors at the Army Club on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road on Monday.

The Army Club centre has the capacity to test 1,000 people a day who can register via the QueQ application. Results are known 30 minutes after the test.

Agencies