Concerned about this pandemic and its implications, the “Support Covid-19 Thai Heroes” project or #Covid19ThaiHeroes was founded to encourage and assist our medical professionals: doctors, nurses, and all relevant health care providers who work in hospitals nationwide. They are the most important people in this fight and they are also at greater risk of infection than anyone else.
The “Support Covid-19 Thai Heroes” project was initiated by Khun Arpapan Jokowidjaja, who has been contributing to our society via numerous projects for a long time. She invited her friends to join the fight: Piya Sosothikul, Pramoad Phornprapha, Oravan and Janewit Kraprayoon, Natwut Amornvivat, Yupa Petcharit Rattanajan, Evelyn Sethbhakdi, Piyawan Chirathivat, and Rasina Uberoi Bajaj. Together they have formed a fundraising project for providing medical equipment and other tools considered significant in the treatment of Covid-19 patients. This project has the means to act quickly. As soon as a request is received, we are immediately able to procure the required equipment as we don’t have to go through many channels of approval process. This will help our healthcare providers perform their job well.
In order to ensure that the project is able to support with the right medical tools and required standardized equipment that truly match the requirements of each hospital, our team has medical specialists on hand as consultants. We have provided a form online where Doctors can fill in their requirements. Medical professionals from hospitals can directly request for any essential equipment that is needed urgently. We use official and government data as our source to decide which hospital to provide on a priority basis. We will do our best to assist every hospital keeping in mind the urgency of the requirement and the amount of equipment we can provide.
Every baht donated will be sent through the Saitharn Foundation who will manage the money to buy medical equipment for hospitals. The committee strongly believes in transparency and the project promises to work with honor and integrity. We have a procurement charter, income and expense records along with spreadsheets and flowcharts that show the process and time that we have delivered the medical equipment to share to the public. We will evaluate the situation of the requirements of each hospital on a day-to-day basis to provide direct support and to those deemed most necessary.
#Gowith20 encourages one person to donate 20 baht and then invite another 20 to do the same and so on. The name “Gowith20 was born as 20 is greater than 19 and the slogan says that 20 will win 19. Therefore #Gowith20 will beat Covid-19.
The “Support Covid-19 Thai Heroes” project has received an overwhelming response from artists and celebrities. Aside from people in the entertainment industry, people all over the country have come together to donate and share their messages online with the hashtags #โกวิท20ชนะโควิด19 #GoWith20 and #ฮีโร่ไทยสู้โควิด19 which has become a trend on social media in a very short period of time.
As of March 31st, or only 9 days since the project started, and the generosity of people all over the country has resulted in a donation of more than 37 million baht. It is gradually increasing on a daily basis. The funds raised have been used to purchase medical equipment such as masks and PPE. Over thousands of pieces have been delivered to almost 100 hospitals nationwide.
However, due to the pandemic situation with the number of patients increasing significantly, our medical professionals need continued massive cooperation. The “Support Covid-19 Thai Heroes” project will continue to collect donations to procure medical equipment to assist our healthcare providers fighting Covid-19. The duration of the project will be based on the situation of the Covid-19 outbreak and the requirements of our medical personnel.
For those who wish to send encouragement to doctors and nurses, please participate in the project through these 4 easy steps:
- Transfer 20 baht through “Support COVID 19 Thai Heroes for The Saitarn Foundation” account
- Bangkok Bank: 142 3 103033
- Kasikorn Bank: 003 1 2057 2 7
- Use mobile banking or True Money Wallet app to scan QR Code
- Capture the screen of your transaction (and DELETE your account number for safety reasons)
- (Optional) Take a selfie. Post the screenshot of your transaction or your selfie along with our poster on your social media with hashtags #Covid19ThaiHeroes #โกวิท20เพื่อฮีโร่ไทยสู้โควิด19 #GoWith20Challenge #GoWith20
- Tag 20 of your friends
The “Support Covid-19 Thai Heroes” project believes in the power of the Thai people. We are Thais no matter how diverse we are. We will all unite to support each other and get through this crisis together. People can follow the power of their generosity and the progress of the project online at:
- Facebook: โกวิท20เพื่อฮีโร่ไทยสู้โควิด19 (https://www.facebook.com/gowith20challenge/)
- Instagram: @gowith20challenge
- Social Media ผ่าน แฮชแท็ก #Covid19ThaiHeroes #โกวิท20เพื่อฮีโร่ไทยสู้โควิด19 #GoWith20Challenge
We will report the latest donation amount as well as provide information on the procurement and delivery of medical tools and equipment to hospitals every day via our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gowith20challenge/
Join us to support and encourage our medical professionals who are at the frontlines fighting against this pandemic.