A new Covid-19 treatment system called “BKK HI Care” will be introduced in Bangkok to help doctors monitor and care for Covid-19 patients treating themselves at home, a government spokesperson said Wednesday.
The new system will allow doctors to care for Covid-19 patients within the green and yellow levels of severity in home or community isolation, said Dr Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, the Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The system works with the Line messaging app or a symptom record sheet, as well as a care package with various items including food and some medicine. It records patients’ daily treatment, prescriptions, temperature, and meals.
Through BKK HI Care, patients at home can report on their condition and receive timely and accurate treatment plans and advice from care institutions.
This “telemedicine” care will minimize further transmissions, Thanakorn said. But the government has given no date for its launch.
There are now at least 285 healthcare institutions in Bangkok registered in the system, the government spokesperson added, with a total of more than 9,000 patients. This means that BKK HI Care will be able to help one community clinic to take care of up to 200 patients, or one doctor to be able to care for up to 30 patients.
The guidelines for BKK HI Care are as follows:
- Provide a home isolation (BKK HI Care kit) treatment kit consisting of masks, alcohol sanitizer gel and spray, a safe bag for disposing of contaminated waste, instruction leaflet, symptom record sheet (for patients without smartphones), pulse oximeter, digital thermometer, and medication such as Fah Talai Jone (green chiretta or Andrographis paniculata) or Favipiravir.
- Daily food delivery service.
- Have patients measure their body temperature and blood oxygen levels twice a day and report on symptoms.
- Staff from the Public Health Service Center will monitor and observe patients’ symptoms via BKK HI Care or by phone for a period of 14 days.
BKK HI Care will be operated via the LINE Application by scanning a QR Code or adding their LINE account once a Covid-19 diagnosis is confirmed. Users will not have to download a new application.
Patients, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers will have access via mobile phones and tablets or PCs across Android, Windows, and iOS.
The system was developed by the Thai Digital Government Development Agency, under the supervision of Anucha Nakasai, minister to the Office of the Prime Minister, together with the National Science and Technology Development Agency, the National Health Security Office, the Bangkok Health Bureau and the National Telecommunications Company Limited.