Field hospitals at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang airports to provide 7,000 beds
Unused areas of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports will be utilised for setting up field hospitals, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob said on Sunday.
He said the arrangement of another 7,000 beds was being made due to the current Covid-19 situation causing a large number of patients to wait for treatment.
He said the government has finalised with Airports of Thailand (AOT) for temporary lease. Also, the lease for Bussarakham Hospital at Impact Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi province will expire in August.
He said the AOT was ready to offer the area of the airports that were currently not in operation to support the field hospitals.
“Now it has been concluded that the area is suitable for development. There will be the main area, which is the main secondary concourse 1 or SAT1, Suvarnabhumi Airport. An area of approximately 100,000 square metres will be used to accommodate at least 5,000 beds in the first phase,” said Saksayam.
The Suvarnabhumi Airport field hospital will be developed into areas on the second floor as offices of doctors, with ICU rooms, while the third and fourth floors will be areas for green and yellow category patients. It will open for service around August, which will coincide with the expiry of the lease of Bussarakham Impact Muang Thong Thani Hospital.
The hospital at Suvarnabhumi Airport will be able to accommodate more than three times the number of patients at Bussarakham Hospital.
In addition, Don Mueang Airport is in the process of preparing warehouse building area 4 to set up a field hospital that can accommodate approximately 2,000 beds for patients with mild symptoms (green category).
Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, president of AOT, revealed that AOT is preparing to open a warehouse building to be established as a field hospital to support Covid-19 patients according to government policy. The warehouse building is approximately 16,000-18,000 square metres and can accommodate approximately 2,000 beds.
The building is currently undergoing internal cleaning as it has been closed since 2006. Once cleaning is complete, there must be an inspection of the electrical and water systems, and additional lighting including making a barrier and preparing mobile toilets and beds. The preliminary work is expected to be completed and ready to open for service on July 12.
