A doctor examines a child with at the General Hospital of Tien Giang province (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – A
dengue patient who was recently brought from the Mekong Delta province of Dong
Thap to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Tropical Diseases went into shock in
the ambulance.
When the vehicle reached the hospital after a drive of several
hours, doctors said it was too late to save the victim, Dr Nguyen Van Vinh Chau,
Director of the HCM City Hospital of Tropical Diseases, told a workshop
on July 20 in HCM City on improving prevention and treatment of dengue fever.
The patient was one of three to die while being “unsafely” brought
from their local hospitals to the HCM City Hospital of Tropical Diseases, he said.
“In such cases, doctors at the local hospital should not send
patients with severe dengue to the . They
should instead call our hospital’s hotline to get advice on how they should
treat.”
The hospital would guide them and send doctors to the hospital in
question to help treat the patient, and this would help reduce the deaths
caused by dengue, he said.
Dr Hoang Van Tuyet, vice director of the National Hospital of
Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, said similarly two patients had died on the way to
his hospital.
Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy head of the Ministry of Health’s Medical
Examination and Treatment Department, said the ministry would instruct health
departments around the country to regulate such transfers between hospitals.
The National Hospital of Tropical Diseases should set up a hotline
for hospitals in Hanoi and the northern region to provide professional
assistance, he said.
Hospitals should also follow the ministry’s guidelines on
diagnosis, treatment and emergency aid for to reduce
fatalities, he said.
One 19-year-old patient was diagnosed with the disease but not
treated based on the guidelines, leading to shock and death, he added.
Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long warned that the
disease would see an upward trend in the next few months.
More and more people would probably contract it and hospitals have
to improve their capacity to treat it, he said.
They should take the initiative and call higher-level hospitals
that have experience in treating it – such as paediatrics and tropical diseases
hospitals – for professional advice before deciding to transfer their patients
there, he said.
Tran Dac Phu, head of the ministry’s Preventive Health Department,
said 57,492 cases of dengue have been reported in the country this year, 9.7 percent
higher year-on-year. Fifteen patients have died, Phu said.
HCM City, Hanoi, Da Nang and the provinces of Binh Duong, Khanh
Hoa, An Giang, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, Soc Trang, and Tien Giang have reported the
highest number of cases.
Dr Phung Duc Nhat, deputy head of HCM City Institute of Hygiene
and Public Health, said usually heavy rains start in May, leading to dengue
fever breaking out in July and lasting until October.
“However, there were many heavy showers in February this year, so
the incidence of dengue has increased since May,” he added.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
