Public health emergency operation centre inaugurated in central region

Participants cut the ribbon to inaugurate the public health emergency operation centre at the (Photo: qdnd.vn)

Hanoi (VNA)
— The Ministry of Health in collaboration with the US Consulate General in Vietnam
inaugurated a (EOC) in the central
province of Khanh Hoa on March 15.

Located at the Nha
Trang Pasteur Institute, the office will serve as an emergency response and coordination
centre for public health issues, including dangerous or emerging diseases that
affect social security and people’s health in the central region.

The EOC will collect,
monitor and analyse surveillance data, conduct epidemic investigations and
enhance co-ordination between medical facilities within and outside the health
sector.

Speaking at the
ceremony, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son highlighted the
inauguration of the EOC as an important milestone on the road to establishing
a .

“The office will help
collect information about public health risks from many sources, analyse and
share information, thereby making effective plans to respond to emergency
public health situations in the central area,” said Son.

Sơn added the health
ministry has promoted the role of the EOC in the prevention of MERS-CoV, Ebola,
Zika, influenza A (H7N9) viruses and other epidemics like dengue and measles.

On March 13, the health ministry also
launched an EOC at the Central Highland Institute of Hygiene and
Epidemiology in Buon Ma Thuot city, the Central Highlands province of Dak
Lak.

Through the US Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention (USCDC) and the Defence Mitigation Agency (DTRA) of the
US Department of Defence, the United States government has supported
information management and human resource training system to operate the EOC
system in Vietnam. -VNA