The goal of this fund is to maximize lives saved. Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers who are fighting on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis currently do not have enough equipment to protect themselves. The most important thing we can do right now is making sure the healthcare workers, especially those who are stationed in rural Thailand, have the necessary protection to avoid COVID-19 infection.

As seen in Italy and USA, when healthcare workers were not sufficiently protected and were infected, they be quarantined for at least 14 days, which means that the already exhausted workforce is depleted (see Reference 1, 2). Meanwhile, infected healthcare workers might not show symptoms but also risk spreading the virus to staffs and others. In UK, it was estimated that as much as 30.5% of infected cases were related to healthcare workers (see Reference 3).

Thus, it is critical that Thailand’s healthcare workers should be provided with essential protective gears in order to curb infection rate in overall Thailand. In seeing the numbers decline in Thailand, we are glad that the call for help has been answered, both through our project and many other fundraising initiatives led by citizens and companies across Thailand.

Since this COVID-19 Fund was created in March, we have been able to support over 200 hospitals across rural Thailand. This project runs as an ongoing COVID-19 Fund for Thailand, which we will continue to update as the situation and needs change. The structure of this fund is to raise fund on an on-going basis to support the ongoing needs during this time of crisis.

The details of this fund, including the use of funds, will continuously be updated right on this page.

Socialgiver Team and dedicated volunteers have been reaching out to over 300 hospitals and sub-district hospitals from all over Thailand and talking to people on the frontline regarding what resources they need to fight COVID-19 most effectively. Also, we also have received requests from medical professionals, non-profits, and volunteer groups about needed gears. We share the data collected to our affiliate volunteer groups so they can also reach out and support those in need.

This COVID-19 Fund for Thailand is an on-going fund. We divided the work into 2 phases to ensure that frontline healthcare workers will receive needed personal protective equipment (PPE) as soon as possible, and once completed we may continue prose future phases if they are needed as the situation changes:

Despite facing numerous problems with local sourcing of PPE suits, we successfully procured 4,000 PPE suits and have delivered them to 58 hospitals and sub-district hospitals from 48 provinces in Thailand. In March and April, PPE suit prices rose greatly due to limited supply and high demand. Many of the PPE Suits we paid for in March ended up being cancelled in April as prices rose and factories were affected by closures and/or delays (or simply preferred to cancel our order). We decided to procure some PPE suits even at higher prices to ensure critical hospitals had at least some supply.

For other hospitals, we found a private donor to donate 15,250 raincoats to 131 hospitals across 44 provinces. The raincoats were used mostly in sub-district as their only protective gear when healthcare workers go in for community visits and do daily check-up on high-risk individuals. We also found additional private donors who helped produce 5,800 Face shields which we donated to 22 hospitals and sub-district hospitals.

In addition, we also funded research and development on a BIRD respirator or a non-rebreathing ventilator designed to deliver oxygen or compressed air to patients safely without entrainment. This was built based on requirements provided by doctors. See the details of our initial version and latest update here: https://bit.ly/2WOwdzk and https://bit.ly/2UpBZpH

Based on feedback from hospitals, we noted that waterproof gowns are lacking and there is not much public attention to raise funds for them, therefore we decided to procure these. We procured two versions, single-use and reusable. Two of the single-use gowns were imported from Chinese manufacturers, which we decided to pay a higher than usual price for both faster production and faster shipping to ensure they reach hospitals as soon as possible. For reusable gowns, we identified a local producer who was developing a special version with a local hospital and procured the same quality at a larger scale to donate to other hospitals across Thailand. We decided to procure reusable gowns from this local factory.

In addition to gowns, we also identified a source for high-quality KN95 masks, another PPE item that is in very high demand, and urgently needed. The masks we procured comes with GB2626 certification, produced by a factory in China that normally supplies to EU markets.

Lastly, we procured hoods and leg cover to give the healthcare workers head-to-toe protection. For those gears, we empowered 20 women garment workers in rural villages in Sakolnakorn province who during this pandemic risked being unemployed. We supported their handicraft in making quality and functional protective gear for healthcare workers in the Northeast and Southern region. A portion of the donation goes directly to support their livelihood through the purchase of hood and leg covers.

We shared the data collected from hospitals and sub-hospitals all across Thailand with our affiliate volunteer groups and private donors. As a result, they help to provide additional protective gears to healthcare workers, as follow:

• 300 additional PPE Suits supported by private donors to 6 hospitals.

• The “Co-with 19” campaign on Socialgiver is raising fund for the vital medical equipment in the three southern border provinces. See more at shorturl.at/uEL05

Now is the time for a global effort to fight COVID-19. Socialgiver believes that protecting the frontline doctors, nurses and healthcare workers is the best strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Thailand. Thus, we have created the COVID-19 Fund for Thailand to raise funds to purchase personal protective gear for our healthcare effort.

As of May 12, 2020, Covid-19 Fund raised a total of ฿3,327,562 from 1,440 donors (as of May 12, 2020) to 2,440 donors to support over 200 rural hospitals across Thailand. With a fundraising target of 4,000,000 THB we would be able to procure and donate:

• 6,000 PPE suits

• 23,000 KN95 masks

• 4,000 Waterproof gowns (disposable)

• 4,000 Waterproof gowns (reusable)

• 15,250 Raincoats

• 5,800 Face shield

• 4,000 Hoods

• 1,350 pairs of Leg covers

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported this fund and we are confident that the protective equipment we donated as a result to all rural hospitals have been used to stop the spread of COVID-19 across Thailand and provide a safer environment for frontline healthcare workers.

• https://www.icn.ch/news/high-proportion-healthcare-workers-covid-19-italy-stark-warning-world-protecting-nurses-and

• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/15/coronavirus-us-health-care-worker-death-toll-higher-official-data-suggests

• https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-19-how-many-healthcare-workers-are-infected/

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