Four Bangkok's hospitals assigned to treat Ebola suspects

BANGKOK, August 22 (TNA) - Four state-run hospitals in Bangkok have been assigned by the Ministry of Public Health to take care of and provide treatment to suspects and, probably, patients of the deadly Ebola virus. An agreement allowing the four hospitals, including the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute, Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital, Rajavithi Hospital and the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, to take care of and provide full treatment to Ebola-infected suspects and patients was announced after a meeting of parties concerned, namely senior public health officials, doctors, nurses and scientists, in the capital on Friday morning. In upcountry, the agreement indicated, both state and private-run hospitals are responsible for taking care of and providing treatment to Ebola-infected suspects and patients, while Public Health Ministry officials will transfer knowledge to medical staffs at the provincial hospitals. In another development, a 48-year-old Thai woman who was suspected of contracting the fatal disease after she recently returned from Liberia, where she worked, was found to have been recovering from her sickness and it has also been scientifically found that her condition is "negative" for an infection of the feared disease. Doctors have, however, watched out 13 other people who are close to her. According to the Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO), Ebola patients have only been found and confirmed in three countries so far, including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with accumulative patients totaling 2,473, 1,145 of them have died. Meanwhile, Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, Director-General of the Public Health Ministry’s Department of Disease Control, confirmed that the 48-year-old Thai woman is free from the Ebola disease. Dr. Opas explained that a blood test result from Bangkok-based Chulalongkorn Hospital showed her platelets were as high as 190,000 cubic millimetres, which are normal, while platelets of those infected with Ebola must be lower than 150,000 cubic millimetres, but doctors will continue measuring her temperatures every four hours for a certain period of time. The unidentified patient was admitted to the state-run Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute on August 21. On preventive measures against Ebola at all Thai airports, Dr. Opas recommended, besides airline staffs, security guards and cabin cleaners should also help observe conditions of passengers and report to doctors stationing at the airports immediately if they come across any passenger who vomits. Dr. Opas also denied reports on Ebola-infected suspects in several countries, including Myanmar, Vietnam, India and Germany, insisting that, as of now, there has not been even a single confirmed patient in those countries. (TNA)