HCMC heightens Covid-19 prevention measures at hospitals

In a letter sent to healthcare facilities in the city, the Department of Health requested a strict limit to the transfer of patients from one clinic to another.

Such referrals should only be allowed when a patient is in too critical a state to be treated at the current hospital. In these cases, referral hospitals and those of lower levels should guarantee all protocols for Covid-19 prevention during transfer.

For the best results, patients and those who care for them should remain at one hospital and avoid moving around if possible, the department stated, demanding hospitals equip themselves with sufficient resources to treat patients and prevent the spread of Covid-19.

It also called on people to book appointments online or via phone before arriving at hospitals for health checks instead of waiting in large crowds for their turn.

"Online health declarations must be used as the first tool to screen those attending healthcare facilities," the department’s deputy director Tang Chi Thuong said.

Hospitals are required to equip themselves with screens so patients and those delivering them can easily scan QR codes for health declaration purposes before entry.

In case visitors do not have smartphones to scan the code, hospitals should prepare booths with suitable tools to allow them to complete health declarations in a way that could avoid direct contact between themselves and hospital staff.

During current complications in the lastest Covid-19 community outbreak, hospitals must make sure doctors and nurses are available permanently to screen for outward signs and symptoms of Covid-19 among those suspected of carrying the disease.

Screening rooms must be located near areas marked for medical declaration and be separated from the examination department to limit the spread of the virus, the department held.

Since May 5, nine hospitals have gone under lockdown after becoming Covid-19 clusters themselves.

They are seven hospitals in northern Vietnam: the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, K Hospital, 105 Military Hospital, and Medlatec Hospital in Hanoi; Phuc Yen General Hospital in Vinh Phuc Province; Lang Son Lung Hospital in Lang Son Province; Thai Binh General Hospital in Thai Binh Province; and two in central Vietnam: Quynh Lap National Leprosy Dermatology Hospital in Nghe An Province and Hoan My Hospital in Da Nang.

On May 5, a doctor at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, a frontline hospital for treating Covid-19 patients in Vietnam, tested positive for the new coronavirus during an overseas business trip.

Following his infection, mass testing and contact tracing have found dozens of others having contracted the virus at the hospital.

The source of virus transmissions at the hospital remains unclear, though infections have spread from here to four other hospitals after patient transferals.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of Medical Services Administration under the Health Ministry, requested each hospital to treat its patients as a potential sources of new coronavirus transmission, with hospitals designated "miniature societies."

On Monday, Vietnam's Covid-19 daily new tally has gone past 100 for the first time as the Ministry of Health announced 78 cases in the morning and another 31 around noon.

Nationwide, 442 community transmissions in 26 cities and provinces have been recorded since April 27 as Vietnam experiences one of its most challenging Covid-19 waves yet.