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BANGKOK (Reuters) – For Bangkok nurse Kanjana Kamoun, the Coronavirus Intensive Care Room is not just where she works all day, it’s where she thinks she is when she wakes up in the middle of the night, anxious and scared.
A nurse wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) cares for a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Clinic at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, April 22, 2020. REUTERS / Athit Perawongmetha
Despite the fact that the number of new cases is slowing down in Thailand, the first country outside of China to report a coronavirus infection, the strain is showing up in doctors and nurses who have worked for weeks to keep patients alive.
“Sometimes when I wake up and my throat hurts, I worry and wonder if I made mistakes at work or not,” Kanjana, 36, told Reuters. “All I can do is think that I did the best I could.”
Since March 9, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok has treated nearly 200 coronavirus patients, and medical staff there are proud to have missed none.
“I don’t want anyone to die, I want them to just get better,” said Tatsanee Onthong, one of the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit.
PRESSURE IN PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
The hospital pays much attention to infection prevention among staff.
First-time patients see the doctor only on a screen. Consultations are carried out remotely.
The Intensive Care Unit is behind the double glass barriers. Only those who absolutely have to enter the room do so. One patient is kept in each room.
“It requires five to six medical employees, each time wearing many personal protective equipment suits,” said infectious disease specialist Opass Putcharoen.
“We are concerned that if we have many serious cases, we will use many resources and increase the chances of infection.”
But unlike China or parts of Europe and the United States, Thailand’s emergency rooms have never been overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
And the number of reported cases has decreased.
On Monday, Thailand reported nine new cases, the first time the number had dropped to single digits since March 14.
Despite having some of the earliest cases of coronavirus, Thailand has reported only 2,931 cases in total, ranking 58th worldwide.
He has seen 52 deaths, while 2,609 patients have recovered.
Onthong recalled a patient who had come unconscious. Elderly and with another medical condition, the chances seemed slim.
“But then the patient improved and recovered,” he said. “That raised my spirit to keep fighting.”
(This story corrects the title and the name, paragraph 9)
Editing by Matthew Tostevin
