High-Ground Field Hospitals Keep Care Running in Flooded Hat Yai

Hat Yai residents woke to the hiss of pumps and the thump of helicopter rotors as Songkhla’s commercial hub edged toward normality after torrents of monsoon rain submerged the city. To keep healthcare running, the Public Health Ministry converted eight high-ground sites—from the airport runway to Prince of Songkla University—into improvisational hospitals. More than two hundred patients have already received treatment, and a real-time registry on the Thai Help Centre portal lets families confirm loved ones’ whereabouts without wading through floodwater.

In Brief

A cascade of quick decisions kept medical care afloat. Officials activated eight field hospitals, flew in 280 doctors and nurses, installed 500-kilowatt generators, and linked the network with satellite internet supplied by AIS and Thaicom. Within forty-eight hours the pop-up wards logged over 277 consultations, infused three tonnes of medical oxygen, and sheltered new-born infants evacuated under torchlight. Sky Doctor crews airlifted critical cases while the Navy’s carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebet turned its galley into a floating kitchen that now plates thousands of meals a day. Although flood peaks are receding, several outlying roads remain cut; until they reopen, medicine, drinking water, and fuel will continue to arrive by helicopter sling.

Immediate Medical Lifeline for Songkhla’s Largest City

By mid-morning the concourse of Hat Yai Airport echoed not with departure calls but with the soft beep of monitors. Physicians from Songkhla Hospital, armed with hand-held ultrasounds, admitted elderly residents rescued from balconies only hours earlier. Across town, the municipal auditorium morphed into a paediatric corner, while Ratphum Hospital absorbed dialysis cases diverted from the waterlogged main facility. Altogether the eight sites hold more than 300 beds, a buffer planners deem sufficient should fresh storms roll in. Fibre links are down, so every chart moves by a satellite-backed data loop, circulating test results faster than boats can cross the brown surge outside.

How the Ad-Hoc Wards Operate

Disaster veterans describe the layout as hub-and-spoke. Each camp partners with a referral hospital that stocks antivirals, intravenous fluids, and mobile X-ray units. Supplies land aboard C-130s from Bangkok before transferring onto amphibious trucks or helicopters. To counter blackouts, crews parked a diesel generator on dry ground beside the Hat Thip bottling plant, feeding power through elevated cables. Infection control starts at the entrance: separate tents steer respiratory patients away from orthopaedic injuries, and colour-coded wristbands track triage. Staff fill digital charts on rugged tablets—an upgrade veterans of the 2000 flood call transformative.

Voices from the Front Line

Paediatrician Kittiya Rattanapong has yet to see her own children this week but lights up recalling the moment a premature baby’s heartbeat steadied under a flashlight. “We used a car battery to keep the incubator going,” she said, wiping her brow. Volunteer medic Surachai Mekin compared the scene to a campaign hospital, noting a stubborn shortage of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Still, morale holds: residents deliver home-cooked rice porridge, and a teenager donated his only power bank so nurses could consult specialists online. Rescue divers, army engineers, and public-health students work in twelve-hour relays, proving—one veteran remarked—that “the city’s immune system is its people.”

Lessons Translated into Action

A timeline of past disasters now fills the provincial war room. After floodwaters paralysed Hat Yai in 2000, planners vowed never again to rely on a single hospital. This year the promise bore fruit; high-ground sites were pre-mapped for rapid-deployment wards and memoranda signed with private firms for long-range radios and vacuum-sealed meals. Analysts praise smoother patient transfers but warn that early-warning alerts still trail rainfall. Emergency managers also lament that many households overlooked basic survival kits, exposing a gap between policy and street-level readiness in a warming climate.

What Residents Need to Know Right Now

Water in Khlong U-Tapao is falling, but hidden debris and live wires keep currents treacherous. Health officials urge anyone with open cuts to seek a tetanus booster at the nearest field ward and to boil tap water until lab tests declare it safe. Families hunting relatives can enter names on the Thai Help Centre website, updated hourly. Would-be volunteers should enrol at Prince of Songkla University, where coordinators assign duties on the spot. Full restoration of Hat Yai Hospital may take two weeks, yet the temporary network stands ready for round-the-clock care, turning a calamity into a rehearsal for deeper resilience