How Hat Yai’s Field Clinics and Sky Doctors Kept 500 Patients Safe During Songkhla Floods

A sudden surge in floodwaters turned southern Thailand’s largest provincial medical hub into a watery maze, prompting an unprecedented ripple of relief operations across Songkhla. Eight swiftly assembled field hospitals are absorbing the overflow from Hatyai Hospital, while a specialized air medical crew known locally as the Sky Doctors swooped in from Chiang Mai to evacuate the most fragile cases.

Emergency Medical Outposts Rise in Songkhla

Within days of floodwaters breaching two metres inside the main wards, authorities marshalled personnel from the Department of Medical Science and seven provincial centres to erect field hospitals on higher terrain around Hat Yai. Staff from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Trang, Phatthalung, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla hospitals pulled together ambulance convoys and mobile units to secure critical respirators, establish triage zones and ensure continuity for roughly 500 patients stranded at the inundated site. Officials estimate the makeshift network will remain active for three to five days while rehabilitation crews work to restore the main facility.

Chiang Mai Sky Doctors Bridge the Distance

As roads collapsed under raging currents, a team of air-evacuation specialists from Nakornping Hospital in Chiang Mai boarded a chartered AirAsia flight carrying advanced life-support kits, fresh oxygen cylinders and emergency pharmaceuticals. Led by Dr Kanaporn Khunpradit, the Sky Doctors unit completed a daring night-brief before lifting 20 ventilator-dependent patients by helicopter to Songklanagarind Hospital. Their mission underscored the importance of critical transfers when standard ambulances cannot penetrate flood-cut highways.

Navigating Supply and Access under Floodwater

Maintaining a steady flow of essential resources proved as daunting as the rising tide itself. Temporary corridors cleared by local engineers supported convoys of fuel tankers and GMC trucks, while small boats ferried clean water, medical gas and portable generators to each camp. Collaboration with the Provincial Electricity Authority and volunteer divers kept oxygen pipelines operational, averting the risk of supply disruptions during the most precarious hours of the crisis.

Restoring Services: Timeline and Future Safeguards

Public Health Ministry teams have deployed structural inspectors and utility specialists to assess power grid integrity, pump out residual water and rewire ICU zones. Limited in-patient care is expected to resume within days, as telemedicine platforms reroute non-urgent appointments and temporary clinics open in nearby community halls. Officials are already drafting an after-action review to drive drainage upgrades, reinforce lower floors against future surges and strengthen mental health support for flood-affected neighbourhoods. This coordinated effort offers a blueprint for bolstering Thailand’s emergency response well beyond the current deluge.