The cost of the care will be covered by National Health Security Office (NHSO), which has been working with public and private hospital operators to implement a reimbursement policy for home care and isolation.
 
          NHSO Secretary-General Dr Jadej Thammathat-Aree said that home care for mild-symptom COVID-19 patients was piloted in some hospitals in Bangkok and metropolitan, including the Bangkok-based Rajavithi Hospital run by Public Health Ministry.
 
          Home care includes online consulting with physicians, daily follow-up, delivery of meals, and necessary medical equipment such as thermometers and oxygen. 
 
          Patients may receive Andrographis paniculate capsules and favipiravir for treating fever. If they develop severe symptoms, hospital staff will send vehicles to pick up the patients from home.
 
          Hospital staff will provide these services to patients for free and claim the fees from the NHSO.
“This does not mean we leave the patients to handle with the coronavirus alone. This is pretty much like receiving care at hospitals, only that it happens at home,” said Dr Jadej.
 
“Doctors will assess the symptoms and health conditions of the patients, along with their home physical environment to decide whether home isolation suits them.”
 
          The provision of home care for mild-symptom COVID-19 cases aims to reduce the crowd at hospitals, especially in Bangkok and its metropolitan where thousands of daily confirmed cases are reported. 
 
          With the rising cases, the bed capacities of many hospitals are brimful. Putting mild-symptom patients in home isolation will help saving hospital resources critical cases. 
 
          Dr Jadej said that the NHSO supports community isolation which local communities collectively manage isolation facilities for members with COVID-19. The facilities may set up in factories, temples, and community meeting halls. 
 
          Hospital staff then collaborate with local communities by dispatching mobile X-ray and laboratory vehicles to the facilities. Physicians arrange teleconferences with patients in the facilities to check their health conditions and symptoms. 
 
NHSO covers the fees for these services:

• - RT-PCR test, no more than 1,600 baht/test
• - Laboratory service, 600 baht/test.
• - Specimen sample collection, 100 baht/sample
• - Community isolation facility, 1,000 baht/day/case for 14 days
• - Medical equipment including thermometer and oxygen saturation for a     patient in home isolation, no more than 1,100 baht/case. 
• - Personal Protective Equipment for medical staff, 740 baht/case
• - Medicine for treating COVID-19, no more than 7,100 baht/case
• - Patient transfer, transportation, and vehicle cleaning, reimbursed based on driving distance but no more than 3,700 baht per trip
• - Chest X-ray service, 100 baht/time