Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered related agencies to step up efforts to contain outbreaks of hand-foot-mouth disease and dengue fever.
In a dispatch on May 6 he said, to minimise the number of infections and fatalities, the Ministry of Health should focus on treating cases of hand-foot-mouth and dengue at local clinics to preclude the risk of their spread at crowded central hospitals.
District medical clinics in Ho Chi Minh City, the southern provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Ca Mau, and the highlands province of Kon Tum, which have reported an increasing number of cases, should take prompt action against the diseases, he said.
He called on health workers to use the latest diagnostic methodologies for early discovery of the two diseases, and said health authorities must mobilise enough equipment and drugs to cope with emergencies and offer incentives to doctors and nurses who work in infectious wards.
He ordered the Ministry of Health to liaise with city and province people’s committees to monitor preventive efforts in places with high infection rates.
He said they should also monitor the incidence of the two diseases around the country and in neighboring countries to ensure proper measures against them.
The ministry should keep him as well as the media informed of updates and measures, he said.
On the same day the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a meeting in Hanoi to review prevention of disease outbreaks among cattle, poultry, and aquatic creatures in the northern region.
According to the Department of Animal Health, in the first four months there have been many outbreaks. Bird flu was reported in 155 communes in 33 provinces, but the disease is under control now.
There have been foot and mouth outbreaks among cattle in 48 communes in 10 provinces.
Farms in many rural areas reported 2,350 cases of epizootic disease which killed 71 bovines before being contained.
Shrimp diseases have hit nearly 1,700 hectares of farms, 1.8 times the figure from the same period last year.
