Medical staff, from Sangkhla Buri Hospital in Kanchanaburi, have set up a mobile hospital unit in Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, bringing medical services closer to remote communities, while promoting COVID-19 precautionary measures among villagers.

A medical team from Sangkhla Buri Hospital is transporting medical equipment, in four-wheel drive trucks through the jungle, over the mountain and across streams, to the remote Laiwo-Salawa village, located in the western part of Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary and close to the Thailand-Myanmar border.

On this journey, the medical team examined and treated villagers, and delivered medicine to people with chronic conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes, negating their to make difficult trips to hospital, and to help them reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19.

Dr Pimpisut Kongwittayanon said the team is also encouraging the villagers to change their diet, after finding that many of them eat excessively salty and oily food. She said the mobile hospital unit allows doctors to understand the condition and difficulties faced by rural villagers, in addition to undertaking more examinations and treatments.

At night, the medical team sets up a small movie theater for villagers, which also screens health recommendation videos and a tutorial on how to wash hands properly, made in a local dialect.