Thailand is preparing to send two more medical teams to quake-hit Nepal as health officials move to help more ravaged regions.
One of the teams will travel to the city of Panchkhal, which is home to more than 1,500 families, after a report said medical help remains "inaccessible" in the heavily-damaged area and there are a number of injuries, the Public Health Ministry's deputy permanent secretary Surachet Sathitniramai said yesterday.
The team will include doctors from Ramathibodi Hospital, Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Medicine, Phuket Hospital and hospitals under the ministry.
Panchkhal is about 14 kilometres from Sipaghat sub-district in Sindhupalchock district, east of Kathmandu.
The other medical team — comprising doctors from medical service agencies such as Siriraj Hospital and Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine — will travel to Sipaghat to replace a Thai medical team already there, and which are scheduled to return on Saturday.
Each medical team will comprise 20 officials.
Also accompanying the two teams will be environmental scholars from Mahidol University and experts from the Disease Control and Mental Health departments who will help deal with environmental health issues and any mental issues victims might have.
"Reports of injuries are now decreasing, but authorities still find sick people who need our help," Dr Surachet said.
The situation in Nepal now needs general practitioners, physicians and doctors in family medicine to replace emergency doctors, he added.
The teams are scheduled to be briefed on their mission tomorrow and fly out to Nepal on Thursday. Each team member will be also vaccinated against influenza and encephalitis.
The official death toll has now reached at least 7,056 while the number of injured has risen to 14,123, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Thai medical teams, in addition to providing treatment to the wounded and traumatised victims, aim to work together with state authorities and damaged communities to prevent outbreaks of disease and keep the quake-hit areas as hygienic as possible, Mr Surachet said.
The medical staff also plan to help rebuild any public health facilities that the earthquake damaged, he said.
The clean-up task will be immense since many structures were reduced to rubble, he added.
Meanwhile, Thais continue to donate and send relief supplies through the Thai government which yesterday reported that 111 million baht had been donated between April 28 and Sunday, deputy government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.
The calculation is based on donations transferred to the government's Krung Thai bank account, No 067-0-10330-6.
A large number of supplies have also been sent to the 1st Infantry Regiment on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road and the 11th Infantry Regiment in Bang Khen, Maj Gen Sansern said.
The items include 2,720 items of clothing, 1,468 boxes of instant food, 8,096 bottles of drinking water and 35 boxes of medicine as well as electric generators, rice cookers and tents.
"The government thanks you, the Thai people, for helping boost the morale of the Nepalese government and its people by giving such large donations," Maj Gen Sansern said.
However, Kathmandu airport and nearby airports in Nepal are still experiencing a heavy influx of planes, which has delayed aid from Thailand reaching people who need it, but it should reach them soon, he said.
While no survivors have been found in the ruins of Kathmandu since Thursday, rescuers did pull a 101-year-old man alive from his ruined home in a rural district on Saturday, a week after the disaster.
