Ice bags and water offer health workers respite from sizzling heat

In the last few days, the Vietnamese online community has been touched by many photos showing heath care providers suffering from the summer heat while collecting Covid-19 test samples in northern Bac Giang Province, Vietnam’s current Covid-19 hotspot.

"Amid 40 degrees Celsius, doctors from Hai Phong Medical University used ice bags to keep their body temperatures stable while collecting samples," a Facebooker shared in a group with over 94,000 members.

Health workers pour water on their bodies to keep cool. Photo courtesy of Mai Hoang Hai.

Leaders of Bac Giang’s Viet Yen District confirmed hundreds of medics from Hai Phong Medical University had come to the district to collect local test samples in the past few days.

"It’s too hot, so medics must put ice bags on their bodies since they can’t remove their protective clothing. The extreme weather gives them a tough time," a district leader said.

Nguyen Van Tuan, vice secretary of Nenh Town in Viet Yen District, said he had asked people to buy ice bags and store them in cooler boxes so doctors and nurses working under the scorching sun on May 31 could use them.

"It can help them feel better so they can work," Tuan said, adding he knew those ice bags cannot help medics stand such extreme weather.

A medic uses ice bags to cool off. Photo courtesy of Mai Hoang Hai.

With 2,757, Bac Giang has accounted for nearly half of all Covid cases in the ongoing national wave. Health workers from across the country have come to the province to support their colleagues in collecting samples from dozens of thousands of people, contact tracing, and treating Covid patients.

Previously, several medics fainted while taking Covid-19 specimens in Bac Giang and neighboring Bac Ninh Province. They had suffered from heatstroke due to working non-stop in extreme conditions while wearing air-tight protective gear.