Ex-patients cause a stir with outburst on food at Covid isolation centre

On Saturday, two men who had recovered from the infection showed reporters two bags of a food set provided to patients at the Covid-19 community isolation centre (CI) in the Chumphon College of Technology and Agriculture, Thung Tako district.
The men claimed that the price was not justified by the quantity and quality of the food. 

The first food bag consisted of cooked rice, a boiled egg and spicy stir-fried vegetables with three pieces of pork. The second bag had fried rice with three pieces of sausages, soup with one piece of ash gourd, boiled green bean dessert, and a packet of chillies and fish sauce. 

The men said that after their test results came out positive on August 14, they had received treatment at Thung Tako hospital for two days, and were transferred to the district's CI three days later. 

After 4-5 days at the CI, the men found that they were provided the same food menu. The quality dropped significantly that they had to opt for donated dried food. The former patients also questioned the packaging quality, as the food was delivered in thin plastic bags. 

"We urge the authorities to investigate. The food costs THB150 per patient, but the actual quality and quantity of what is provided should cost only around THB60. We call for only moderate quality of food for hundreds of patient at the CI," said one of the former patients. 

Afterwards, the reporters travelled to the food preparation location. The kitchen was located inside a palm fruit picking yard, which they found inappropriate to cook food hygienically. 

The government budget to provide food for patients is THB15,000 per day, and there are almost 150 patients receiving treatment at Chumphon's Thung Tako CI daily.

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