Thailand’s Hospitals Nationwide on Standby for “Seven Dangerous Days”of New Year’s

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Ministry of Pubic Health has ordered all Hospitals under it’s control to prepare for potential emergency cases over the Seven Dangerous Days of the Thai New Year, while a call center has been established to monitor medical emergencies.

According to Public Health Permanent-Secretary Narong Sahametapat, all hospitals of the Ministry are now ordered to have medical staff and equipments on standby for 24 hours, as well as emergency teams and local volunteers to be ready for any possible accidents during the New Year’s holiday. The New Year’s holidays are considered the period where accidents happen most often.

Hospitals are ordered to stock up on medical equipments, reserved blood, and double the amount of surgeons and operation theatres to provide assistance for individual or group injuries, as well as cooperate with related agencies through the referring system.

Medical staffs are urged to provide immediate assistance to emergency patients within 10 minutes, while the public can call the 24-hour 1669 hotline if they witness or experience an emergency situation, said the Permanent-Secretary.

He further said that hospitals are also ordered to compile a report from the analysis of the information from the accidents recorded with the related agencies, and to come up with a joint strategy to deal with the emergency situations throughout the New Year’s holidays.