Associate Professor Luong Ngoc Khue
According to Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, the Southeast country has been hit by the fourth wave of the Covid-19 epidemic with more than 23,000 Covid-19 victims. Worse, the country has seen many new cases lately.
Although Vietnam has passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic, it is highly likely that the country may be hit by the disease again amid the ongoing pandemic in the world. Therefore, people should not neglect Covid-19 safety precautions by strictly implementing the 5K principle and epidemic preventive measures such as physical or social distancing, quarantining, ventilation of indoor spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face.
Assoc. Professor Luong Ngoc Khue revealed that through discussion with health experts from the US, he and his colleagues learned that many fully vaccinated people have still contracted the fatal virus with mutations such as Delta, Lambda.
Moreover, the Vietnamese President has recently written a letter to the Ministry of Health urging not to neglect the fight against the epidemic but carrying out safety procedures as Vietnam has prepared to live safely with Covid-19. Especially, medical examination and treatment facilities and hospitals must strictly follow Directive 3088 on safe Hospitals and be ready to adapt to the reality and; plus, doctors must be trained for coping with Covid-19.
On the other hand, infirmaries necessarily provide treatment of common diseases in addition to the Covid-19 epidemic. Hospitals and medical facilities must flexibly implement a dual-mission strategy. Ministries and agencies ought to keep their evaluation and learned lessons from the prior wave of the Covid-19 pandemic with an effort to reduce the mortality rate.
Dr. Truong Huu Khanh At the seminar, Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, Standing Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Infectious Association cum Professional Advisor of Children's Hospital 1, said that the unprecedented gap in the recent epidemic and patient overload in hospitals is very normal for doctors in infectious disease but it is a real shock for internal peers and specialists.
Speaking at the seminar, psychologist Le Minh Cong, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Work at the Ho Chi Minh City-based University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said that the global Covid-19 crisis has resulted in an increase in mental health problems.
An estimated 10 percent-60 percent of the population in countries has symptoms of mental disorders, three times higher than before the Covid-19 epidemic. However, countries still do not care or pay attention to the mental health of people.
According to Mr. Cong, five vulnerable groups of mental health include health workers, frontline workers; children, especially groups of children with special needs, migrant workers, freelance workers; people with mental problems or pre-existing medical conditions and people with disabilities.
