BANGKOK -- They travel to the forgotten around the capital's outlying neighborhoods, taking care of desperate people who can't find a place in Thailand's overburdened health care system or who are living in the streets.
They are ordinary Thais like Ekapob Laungprasert, who said he suddenly realized that overworked nurses and hospitals needed as much help as those sick from covid-19 did. The businessman helped set up one of the volunteer groups helping those in need. Saimai Will Survive is named after the Bangkok neighborhood where he lives.
Because Thailand seeks to medically isolate anyone who tests positive, almost a quarter of a million people are now in field hospitals and hospitals. People with mild or no symptoms are now being allowed to self-isolate under remote observation, but space is still short at medical facilities.
With Thailand averaging about 14,000 new cases daily, 2,500 of them in Bangkok, thousands are left on their own.
Responding to calls from neighbors and others, Ekapob, his team and others like them risk their own health to bring care and supplies to the covid-19 patients who would otherwise fall through the cracks.
They buy supplies with public donations and deliver medicine, food and oxygen. They also provide rapid virus tests and help secure hospital beds for people who become critically ill.
Such homespun heroes gain crucial time for both patients and a health care system under severe strain.
![A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group prepares his protective gear before assisting COVID-19-infected people Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)]()
A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group prepares his protective gear before assisting COVID-19-infected people Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
![A COVID 19-infected woman removes her mask to receive needed oxygen from a volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)]()
A COVID 19-infected woman removes her mask to receive needed oxygen from a volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
![A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group in protective gear brings in an oxygen tank for an ailing woman infected with COVID-19 Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)]()
A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group in protective gear brings in an oxygen tank for an ailing woman infected with COVID-19 Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
![A woman feared to have COVID is monitored by a volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)]()
A woman feared to have COVID is monitored by a volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
![A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group in protective prepares an oxygen tank for a person infected with COVID-19 Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)]()
A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group in protective prepares an oxygen tank for a person infected with COVID-19 Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
![A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group in protective gear helps a woman infected with COVID-19 breathe with an oxygen tank Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)]()
A volunteer from the "Saimai Will Survive" group in protective gear helps a woman infected with COVID-19 breathe with an oxygen tank Friday, July 23, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's medical system struggles beneath a surge of coronavirus cases, ordinary people are helping to plug the gaps, risking their own health to bring care and supplies to often terrified, exhausted patients who've fallen through the cracks. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
