According to the Ministry of Health, since the beginning of the year, over 60,000 dengue infections including 20 deaths had been recorded.
In addition to increased cases of infections in the southern provinces, infections were skyrocketing in Hanoi with nearly 10,000 cases including four deaths. The figure had increased four or five-folds compared same period last time.
The Ministry said that many provinces having high rate of infections could declare the epidemic yet only Ha Nam Province with over 100 cases announced the pandemic while the ministry has not yet received any announcements from Hanoi authority.
Because the number of inpatients surged drastically in Hanoi, hospitals are facing the most in-patients overload, the ministry's Department of Medical Examination and Treatment directed the central Tropical Disease hospital and the Department of Health to re-arrange wards to facilitate patients during treatment process.
Meantime, the hospitals such as Tropical Diseases, Bach Mai, Central Children, E; Dong Da, Thanh Nhan, Saint Paul, Ha Dong, Duc Giang and other hospitals were asked to adjust their admission to sort out patients to receive serious inpatients in a bid to minimize mortality rate.
Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the ministry's Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, hospital staffs need to provide more explanations to patients so that they are insured to stay in hospitals of their first choice in locality rather than flock to big hospitals. The move aims to reduce patient overload in hospitals and bed sharing between inpatients.
Big hospitals should set up hot lines to give support to infirmaries in districts in treating severe cases.
Mr. Khue stressed that symptoms of dengue are easily mistaken with symptoms of other fever caused by different viruses; accordingly, medical workers must keep an eye on patients to curb deaths.
Hospitals need also to give detailed treatment to outpatients so that they can be taken to medical clinics when their illness develops seriously.
