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Thailand’s main airport to be used as field hospital

A 5,000 bed field hospital is to be set up in the compound of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport and is expected to become operational in August. The new facility is being established to address the current hospital bed shortage, being caused by a continued surge in COVID-19 cases, according to Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob.

The Transport Ministry has been asked by the Public Health Ministry to set up a field hospital in the airport’s 100,000m2 area of the Satellite 1 building. The second floor will be used for intensive care units and doctors’ facilities, while the third and fourth floors will be used to accommodate mild and asymptomatic patients.

The new facility will open just in time, as the lease for the Bussarakum field hospital, at Impact Muang Thong Thani, will expire next month and the new field hospital, at the airport, will be able to accommodate three times as many patients, said the minister.

Meanwhile, a cargo terminal inside Don Mueang International Airport, is being converted into another huge field hospital, with the capacity to accommodate 2,000 asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 cases. It will become operational on July 12.

Source: Thai PBS World