Phuket is facing a critical bed shortage as COVID-19 spreads throughout the island, said Wachira Phuket Hospital yesterday.
Chalermpong Sukhonthaphol, director of the hospital, said the bed occupancy by patients with mild symptoms in field hospitals and community isolation facilities stands at 80%.
Meanwhile, the occupancy in government and private hospitals has surpassed their capacity at 119%, forcing hospitals to place COVID-19 patients into other wards.
Dr Sukhonthaphol said the province plans to transfer moderate patients to field hospitals while patients with mild conditions will be transferred to hospitals and home isolation open up more space for critical COVID-19 patients.
The province has over 70,000 doses of vaccine, allocated by the government, Spain and Japan, so its target is to vaccinate 300,000 people this month, Dr Sukhonthaphol said.
Deputy chief of Phuket Public Health, Muanprae Boonlom, said there were 244 new cases and three deaths reported as of Wednesday.
There are 3,549 people with Covid-19 in hospitals, 4,434 have been discharged, and 1,178 treated in community isolation.
He said 93 are patients in the Phuket Sandbox, 23 with the virus from overseas, and 10 from other provinces.
Critical patients accounted for 71% of bed occupancy, moderately critical patients 81% and patients in mild symptoms 90%.
The province’s daily new cases have been logged at over 200 after nine clusters have occurred.
