Thailand COVID March 3
Thailand Ministry of Health reports 23,618 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 49 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 19,093 recovered patients.
Public Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul plans to present an overhaul to the COVID treatment scheme. Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (Ucep) Plus will be presented next week for review. It is expected to show how it will cover the treatment of moderate to severe cases of COVID-19.
UCEP
Under the new rule, people will be divided into categories depending on the severity of the cases. Green is for mild to no symptoms, yellow is for moderate, and red for those who are severe. Each category has a different coverage in terms of treatment. Doctors will be the ones to diagnose and categorize each patient.
Mr. Anutin that the new scheme will help reserve hospitalization for those in need of the treatment. “It is not right for people who do not need to be hospitalized to scramble for beds reserved for those who require more intensive care,” Mr. Anutin said.
“When we know how to control the pandemic and treat people appropriately, we should manage hospital resources to ensure their optimal use so people who need hospital care can access it straight away.”
The current UCEP scheme allows everyone to see treatment anywhere for the first three days. After which, patients will be transferred to hospitals accredited by their insurance. Initially, it was to be implemented by March 1 however, due to the surge in cases, it was delayed.
Self-isolation is still strongly recommended for mild to no symptoms to avoid overwhelming the system. The hospitalization is reserved for the at-risk groups or those with critical symptoms. Many countries suffered waves of COVID that caused the shortage of hospital beds.
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