Hanoi to take action to prevent dengue fever

Dengue fever patients have to lie along the corridor as the hospital is overcrowded. — Photo tuoitre.vn

Central hospitals, including Bach Mai Hospital, E Hospital and the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, have been overcrowded with dengue fever patients for the past few days.

Tran Thi Nhi Ha, deputy director of the Ha Noi Department of Health, said the number of dengue fever patients in Hoang Mai, Dong Da and other districts of the capital city continued to increase.

Since the beginning of this year, as many as 8,000 people in Ha Noi have been infected by the disease and three fatalities have been reported.

Districts with a high number of patients include Dong Da with more than 1,400 cases, Hoang Mai with over 1,300 cases, Hai Ba Trung with more than 500 cases and Thanh Tri with over 400 cases.

The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases is the hospital with the highest number of dengue fever patients in the northern area.

Director of the hospital Nguyen Van Kinh said the hospital was screening patients carefully. From the more than 5,000 people visiting the hospital for dengue fever examination, only 800 in serious condition were hospitalised.

On an average, the patients are treated in hospital for three or four days. When their condition is better, they are moved to lower-level hospitals.

Deputy director of the Ha Noi Department of Health Hoang Duc Hanh said the reason for the high number of patients, not only in Viet Nam but also worldwide, was that there was no vaccine or specific remedy for the disease.

Beside this, he said, Ha Noi had several residential zones where no one lived, as well as some areas where residents had the custom of storing water, creating favourable conditions for mosquitoes to reproduce.

To reduce pressure on hospitals that were getting overcrowded with patients, Ha Noi will hold a conference on Wednesday with the participation of private hospitals to select hospitals that can provide treatment to dengue fever patients.

Private hospital and clinics, together with district clinics, will give first aid to patients. If a patient’s condition deteriorates, he/she will be moved to upper-level hospitals.

Director of the Ha Noi Department of Health Nguyen Khac Hien said the work of prevention and control in the near future was not only to focus on the hot spots, but also concentrate on areas where the disease had not spread.

Organisations, enterprises or individuals that did not join hands with the health sector in the prevention of the disease must be penalised strictly, he said.

Providing guidance, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said provinces and cities must impart education to residents on killing mosquito larvae and keeping the environment clean.

Minister Tien asked localities to provide more training on dengue fever treatment to medical workers and also pay attention to other weather-related diseases such as pink eyes and encephalitis.