At HCM City’s Paediatrics Hospital 1 (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) - More doctors at hospitals in provinces anddistricts throughout the country will receive training courses on treatment ofdengue fever, as the number of cases has increased since the end of May andovercrowding continues at city and central-level hospitals.
Nguyen Trong Khoa, the deputy head of Medical Examination and TreatmentDepartment, said the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and two paediatricshospitals in Ho Chi Minh City would provide further training to doctors athospitals in the southern region.
Khoa spoke at a recent meetingwith the Ministry of Health’s supervision team and the city’s Department ofHealth as well as representatives of the city’s Preventive Health Centre andhospitals.
A representative of theHospital for Tropical Diseases reported that the number of patients with denguefever at the hospital began to increase at the end of May.
The hospital’sinfectious diseases department, for instance, treated 60 denguefever inpatients in June, increasing from a monthly average of 40 comparedto the last few months.
The department does nothave space for beds in its rooms and has put beds in hallways.
Meanwhile, according to HCMCity Paediatrics Hospital No.1’s report, new incidences of dengue fever rose inJune to 297, increasing from 242 in May.
Of the 297 patients withdengue fever, 140 were from other provinces.
Dr Phan Trong Lan, headof the Pasteur Institute, said that 30-40 percent of patients at the Hospitalfor Tropical Diseases and two paediatrics hospitals, which treat serious healthproblems, are from other provinces.
Khoa said the proportionof patients from provinces at the three hospitals should be reduced and thatdoctors at hospitals in provinces need better training.
“Although training hasbeen provided, doctors who have training are of retirement age while those whowill replace them have not yet been trained, leading to ineffectiveness intreatment,” Khoa said.
"If doctors withoutexperience in treating dengue fever do not detect signs early, some patientswho are seriously ill could go into shock," he said.
HCM City hasopened one more paediatrics hospital in its outlying district of Binh Chanh toreduce overcrowding at the existing paediatrics hospitals.
Dr Tran Dac Phu, head ofPreventive Health Department under Ministry of Health, said that the number ofcases of dengue fever was expected to rise.
According to thedepartment, 36,437 new cases of dengue fever have been recorded at 47 provincesand cities since early January, including 10 fatalities.
Of the total, around 70 percentwere in the southern region.
Preventive measures
Phu said that new preventivemeasures would be applied to limit the increase of dengue fever cases.
The Ministry ofHealth had set up nine supervision teams for dengue-fever preventionthroughout the country, while preventive health officials in districtswould offer counselling on improving cooperation to enhance effectiveness.
"The communityneeds to learn more about the importance of clearing water containers whichcould be home to mosquito larvae," he added.
Dr Nguyen Huu Hung,deputy head of the city’s Department of Health, said the city was using an ITdatabase to compile data of new cases of dengue fever from health facilities.
Information about thesepatients would be sent to districts so that preventive measures could be taken,such as spraying chemicals to destroy mosquitoes in certain areas.
Several private healthfacilities in HCM City had reported new cases of dengue fever, Hưng said.
The city had finedorganisations and individuals who did not cleared away water containers afterbeing told many times, he added.
Last year, 76 cases werefined, and 46 have received fines this year.
According to aPreventive Health Centre report, the city has recorded 9,141 new incidences ofdengue fever, an increase of 11 percent compared to the same period last year.Of these, three patients died.
The districts of Binh Tanand 12 had the highest increase of incidences in June, with 115 percent and 74 percentrespectively compared to June last year.
A representative ofDistrict 12’s Preventive Health Division said that health officials had not yetidentified the riskiest areas.-VNA
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