Patients quarantined in medical offices and border gates will be exempted from paying hospital fees, according to a new Government decree.

Decree 101/2010/ND-CP, issued on September 30, includes detailed regulations on a number of points in the Law on Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, which was put into force on July 1, 2008.

Individuals will be quarantined if they are found to suffer from infectious diseases which can spread quickly and lead to a high number of fatalities, including polio, A-H1N1 flu, smallpox, cholera, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, diphtheria and rabies.

People will be isolated at border gates if the above diseases are discovered while they are trying to leave or enter the country.

The exemption will not apply to patients isolated in their own homes.

Patients will be isolated to their homes if they visit known epidemic areas or come into contact with patients suffering from the relevant diseases.

If isolated patients catch another disease during their quarantine, they will be required to pay hospital fees related to its treatment.

"At present, there has been no reported remarkable increase of these diseases," said Do Trung Dung, a doctor at the Viet Duc Hospital.

Patients may not be isolated in medical offices for more than 21 days or at border gates for more than two days.

The Decision will go into effect on November 15./.