Global Health Program Annual Report 2021

How life has been in the
world of a Pandemic:
Dispatch from Thailand
‘June’ Atthayaporn Choomai, MD
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, daily life underwent a significant change. Although the
outbreak in Thailand impacted our society after China, the U.S. and Europe – it has been very damaging.
Our economy collapsed, brought to a standstill from the many repercussions of the pandemic.
The Thai healthcare system came under severe strain. Effective vaccines were not available for a number of
reasons. Policies for effective control – to decrease disease spread, were ineffective. People unfortunately
did not have the facts about COVID-19 and as a result suffered.
In May 2020, Thailand was in crisis. The disease overwhelmed us. People died at home in Bangkok, our
capital, without knowing the cause of illness until after they died. Announcements were made to welcome
city-dwellers back to their hometowns if they needed any healthcare provision, as the hospital situation in
Bangkok had collapsed.
Our hospital, Thasala, received many more COVID-19 patients as a result, including from other provinces.
Sadly, we lost hundreds of patients from COVID-19 during this time. Healthcare providers were overworked
and exhausted, it took a heavy toll on us. Unfortunately also, even non-COVID-19 infected patients had
problems, because of the strain on our hospital.
Nowadays, things have improved -our immunization rate is close to 80%. In Thasala hospital, the cases
have decreased despite the appearance of the new variant, Omicron.
Finally, things are slowly improving, including the economy. I believe we can weather this storm. We look
forward soon to re-welcoming tourists (and Global Health colleagues!) from around the world to explore
the nice places and beautiful culture of Thailand.
22 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT LARNER COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND NUVANCE HEALTH