Thailand Ministry of Health reports 23,945 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 70 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 23,339 recovered patients.
Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (Ucep) Plus scheme comes into effect today. The government outlines the process for cases with moderate to severe symptoms.
The permanent secretary for Public Health Ministry, Dr. Kiattiphum Wongrajit said that these cases will receive treatment at any hospital. The moderate, or yellow category, and the severe, or red category, may seek treatment at any private or public hospital. The treatment will be for free.
Those who have mild to no symptoms, or green category, will not be eligible for this free treatment. The treatment will be based on medical insurance, social security, or a 30-baht universal health care scheme. They may also choose to self-isolate, stay at a community isolation facility, or hospitels.
The National Institute for Emergency Medicine has provided doctors with the criteria for categorizing COVID patients. Especially for the red and yellow categories. The Department of Health Service Support relayed the UCEP process to the private hospitals.
A COVID patient stays at a hospital for 10 days, Dr. Kiattiphum said. Other countries have an average stay of 3-5 days. Public Health Ministry is considering revising this to 7+3 format. This means the patient stays at the hospital for 7 days and 3 days on home isolation. This is to help alleviate the hospital’s capacity and be able to accommodate more cases.
Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek also announced the 35 billion baht reimbursement to NHSO. The National Health Security Office (NHSO) contracted the hospitals that accommodated the cases from December to February. The reimbursement covered the expenses shouldered by NHSO.