Phuket medical team returns from Samut Sakhon

A total of nine staff from Vachira Phuket Hospital and Thalang Hospital, led by Dr Withita Jaeng-iam, went to work in the highest-control province, and the epicentre of the second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country, from Feb 1-6 

The team was dispatched after a request for medical staff to volunteer to join the intensive testing required in Samut Sakhon after the extent of the outbreak was realised, explained the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office in a brief report.

The medical team returned to the island on Feb 7, the report noted.

The main duty of the team was collecting test samples from workers, mostly migrant workers, at workplaces in the Samut Sakhon.

“Because medical staff in Phuket did work very effectively in the first outbreak, when we were asked for support, the nine staff presented themselves as volunteers to go there,” said the report.

“They went there with the good intent to help people, even though they had to work under very demanding circumstances,” the report added.

“When they arrived back in Phuket, they all were tested for infection and quarantined themselves at their accommodation for 14 days, as required as a national-disease control measure.

“They did everything to make sure that they are not infected and were safe to go back to work,” the PPHO noted.

A second team of medical staff volunteers have already signed up to return to Samut Sakhon.

“Another team of 12 Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) staff will go to join the work in Samut Sakhon from Feb 28 to March 14,” the PPHO confirmed.