As temperatures drop in the north, the elderly people are suffering and being hospitalized in larger numbers in Hanoi.
Normally the Vietnam National Hospital of Geriatrics receives an average of 50 elderly people each day but since last week the number has doubled. The older people are being admitted with high blood pressure, cardiovascular and cerebral vascular diseases, as well as knucklebone and pneumonia.
According to doctors, the elderly must not venture out in the cold weather and must protect themselves especially during the next few days. Doctors are warning people to be careful of cerebral vascular which can result in contra lateral hemiplegia (Paralysis occurring on the side of the body opposite to the side of the brain in which the causal lesion occurs) or even death.
Dr. Nguyen Hong Ha, the director of the National Tropical Diseases Hospital sees about 50 cases of rubella patients a day including many serious complication cases. He said that due to the initial symptoms resembling those of measles, it is hard to treat these
cases.
