A patient with dengue being treated at a hospital in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – All
hospitals in the country are responsible for reporting about patients with
infectious diseases through an to enable
preventive health officials to take timely preventive action against their
spread, but many hospitals fail to report accurately.
Preventive health officials
raised the issue at a conference on dengue fever surveillance in the south held
in Ho Chi Minh City late last week.
Dr Quach Hoang My, head of
the infectious disease control division at the Binh Duong Province Preventive
Health Centre, said the incidence of in the province reported
through the system was double the number of last year.
However, the actual number
of patients was not that high since in many cases a single patient was reported
by multiple hospitals.
Besides, many dengue
patients, especially migrant workers, did not know their own address meaning
hospital staff could not report addresses, he said.
This affected the plan of
going to patients’ neighbourhoods to carry out preventive methods in a timely
fashion, he added.
An official from the Ben
Tre Province Preventive Health Centre said several hospitals in the province
had provided wrong information: for instance, a patient who tested negative for
dengue has been reported into the system as a patient.
The opposite too had
happened, with a patient reported as testing negative, he added.
An official from the Tien
Giang Province Preventive Health Centre said many hospitals still thought that
providing information about patients with infectious diseases through the
electronic surveillance system was not their responsibility.
“They do not spend
time to update this information, and are sometimes late,” he said.
Dr Phung Duc Nhat, deputy
head of the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, said it was vital to
provide adequate information about patients with through
the system.
This data would help set up
a plan to forecast and an action programme against this disease, he said.
Shortcomings in the system
would be addressed, he added.
Some officials called for
more training for hospital staff to improve their efficiency in reporting.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
