BIDI

Today we went to the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute (BIDI) and had the oppertunity to learn about Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV in Thailand. This institute was founded in 1960 and has 250 beds for patients with various infectious diseases such as TB disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Oppertunistic infections from HIV to name a few.

We had the oppertunity to tour the TB clinic and wards at the hospital. I liked that the hospital refered to the TB clinic as a Respiratory Disease Unit to decrease stigma and discrimination of patients. The nurses brought us through a typical admission of a suspected TB patient!

Above is a typical bed for patients who have TB disease. If they are not immunocompromised, they are in the same room with other people who also have TB disease. However, every patient who enters these wards must wear a face mask to prevent the spread of infection to health care workers. They also try to prevent the spread of infection by having the clinic in open air.

Some group pictures from the day with our generous hosts!