A patient receives check-up from HCM City motorbike emergency service personnel at home (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) – plans to
set up more at public and private hospitals around
the city to meet the increasing need for emergency assistance at people’s homes
and other locations outside medical
facilities.
These
stations are managed by the .
Speaking
at a recent meeting held to review emergency responses outside hospitals, Dr Nguyen
Duy Long, the centre’s deputy head, said there are 31 stations covering all 24
districts of the city.
Of them,
six – Sai Gon General Hospital, Thu Duc District Hospital, District 2 Hospital,
District 4 Hospital, and Linh Xuan and Linh Trung general clinics in Thu Duc district
– have motorcycle emergency services.
In the
first six months of this year 13,961 calls were made to 115 seeking emergency
assistance compared to 8,787 in the whole of 2015 when the first station was
set up at the Sai Gon General Hospital.
When 115
gets a call, the operator transfers it to either the 115 Emergency Centre or a
satellite station closest to the location of the caller.
The
public can also call the satellite stations directly if they know the number
instead of going through 115.
A doctor
and a nurse are then dispatched by ambulance or motorbike to treat the patient
on the spot or bring them back to the hospital if required.
But Long
said: “They still fail to meet the increased demand.”
There is
a shortage of ambulances, with only 11 available out of which only five are
meant for daily use. The rest are used only during festivals and other major
events in the city.
The
centre’s connection with the satellite stations was not “good”, Long said.
He called
for setting up a smart operation system to strengthen communication between the
centre and stations.
This will
enable the centre to know which stations have ambulances available at the time
and how long the ambulance will take to reach the patient to come to their
house and enter feedback on the quality of emergency aid, he said.
The data
would be analysed periodically to develop the emergency network effectively, he
added.
Dr Nguyen
Huy Thang, Chairman of the HCM City Stroke Association and head of the
cerebrovascular diseases department at the People’s Hospital 115, said it
was important to strengthen communication between hospitals and the medical
emergency network to save lives, especially those with stroke.
The
hospital’s study of more than 1,000 patients with stroke it treated in 2016
found that those brought by ambulance have a higher recovery rate than those
brought by other vehicles.
However,
only 10 percent were brought by ambulance.
Le Bao
Huy of Thong Nhat Hospital’s emergency department said only 8 percent of 12,000
patients treated at his department came by ambulance.
Associate
Prof Dr Tang Chi Thuong, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health,
said the department would suggest the municipal People’s Committee to provide
the centre and stations with more ambulances.
The staff
at the stations would be trained further and the department would petition the
Ministry of Health to approve paramedic training courses at universities, he
said.
In the
absence of trained paramedics in the country the stations depend on doctors and
nurses from the hospitals where they are located.-VNS/VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
