JICA helping Vietnamese hospitals improve infection control

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – The Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) handed over 2,000 handbooks on infection control practices
to in HCM City on June 3, as part of its aid package to the
hospital.

In order to support Vietnam in coping with the pandemic, JICA has decided
to continue with aid packages of about 60 million JPY (551,000 USD) for the hospital
and 20 million JPY (nearly 184,000 USD) for centres for disease control (CDCs) in
Nam Dinh, Ha Giang, Bac Giang, Vinh Phuc, Kien Giang, and Tra Vinh provinces.

The handbook was compiled by the infection control ward at the hospital with technical
assistance from JICA experts. It is also hoped to improve infection control at
the Cho Ray Vietnam-Japan Friendship Hospital, to be established in the time to
come, as well as at 21 provincial-level hospitals in the south and the Mekong
Delta.

JICA is implementing a technical cooperation project to improve hospital management
at Cho Ray Hospital through applying safety procedures for patients, coordinating
between clinical procedures and multidisciplinary teams, and promoting measures
to control hospital infections.

In August last year, in a bid to strengthen infection control at Cho Ray and
within the framework of the project, training courses on the use of protective
equipment were held for the hospital’s doctors and nurses.

JICA has implemented non-refundable aid projects since 2006 to help improve the
capacity of medical laboratory networks regarding biosafety and the examination
of highly hazardous and infectious pathogens at the National Institute of
Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) and the
HCM City-based Pasteur
Institute, in the context of Vietnam not having to deal with many infectious
diseases in the past.

JICA experts have also worked with NIHE and the Pasteur
Institute to identify solutions to improve testing capacity for dangerous
infectious diseases as well as COVID-19 in provincial-level CDCs in particular
and in medical establishments around Vietnam in general./.