With the meaning of bringing medical services to communes, wards and townships for early treatment of Covid-19 patients, Binh Duong province has aimed at transforming isolation facilities into medical ones while having smooth coordination in 3 treatment floors. This has brought positive results when reducing overloads on the upper treatment floors and stemming the increase of severe patients.
Converting isolation areas into medical facilities
According to statistics from the local health sector, Binh Duong now has nearly 150 isolation facilities in districts, towns and cities. In the complicated situation of the pandemic, there have been some cases with severe progression of Covid-19, including patients with underlying diseases, pregnant women, obese people, the elderly over 65 years old, in isolation areas. In the face of the situation, the province has established medical facilities in these temporary isolation areas. These medical facilities are equipped with basic medical equipment such as oxygen cylinders, blood oxygen meters while ensuring the amount of emergency drugs and ambulances or rapid response teams’ vehicles with oxygen to take care of F0 cases.
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Caring for Covid-19 patients at Tan Uyen town’s Medical Center
Each medical facility has 1 to 2 doctors, nurses and volunteers, soldiers to closely monitor Covid-19 patients, regularly encourage the people so that they can feel secure and believe in the local pandemic prevention and control. Currently, 91 health stations in communes, wards and towns in the province are equipped with ambulances and hotlines for the local people to call when they need assistance. After receiving emergency treatment, patients with aggravation will be transferred to treatment facilities on the 2nd floor for further treatment.
Doctor Pham Minh Trung, Head of Tan Vinh Hiep ward’s Health Station in Tan Uyen town said that the facility is monitoring the health of 91 F0 cases who were detected after community Covid-19 screening. It is equipped with SPO2 machines, some essential drugs and has assigned a medical staff to be in charge of monitoring the health of F0 cases being isolated there. Twice a day, the medical staff comes to each room to collect tables monitoring F0 cases' health.
Doan Hong Tuoi, Chairman of Tan Uyen town’s People's Committee said that in recent days, the town has quickly converted more than 50 isolation areas into medical facilities. Leaders of the town have also directed the local Health Center to provide adequate oxygen, arrange that each medical facility must have at least 1 medical staff to monitor the health of those being isolated. Especially, the center will recheck risk cases, comprising of pregnant women, children, people with underlying diseases, and the elderly over 65 years old at the medical facilities to transfer them into the treatment areas on the 2nd floor.
Whilst, Thuan An city has also transformed 34 isolation facilities into medical ones. Currently, the city is supporting treatment stratification, especially on the first floor. For Covid-19 patients who have negative results on the 7th day with good health, the city’s Health Center will let them go home for further monitoring in accordance with regulations and guidance of the Ministry of Health. In the blockage areas, the city has also provided information on how to isolate F0 and F1 cases at home while supplying basic medicine and essential food for people.
Binh Duong at the peak of Covid-19
Talking to reporters, Assoc.Prof. Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu, Director of Hanoi Medical University Hospital cum Medical Director of Becamex International Hospital-based Binh Duong Emergency Resuscitation Center said that Binh Duong is at the peak of the pandemic. According to him, the province’s policy of strengthening healthcare to communes and wards for early treatment of Covid-19 patients is very right. In the treatment of Covid-19 patients, taking medicine early at the right time is very important, which will prevent patients’ condition from aggravation. The result has been clearly seen in the practice of treatment that patient overloads at the 2nd floor hospitals have been eased.
Previously, the province’s 2nd floor hospitals had a hospital admission rate of 200% of the number of treatment beds, even patients did not have beds. The province has strengthened the capacity of primary treatment-collection facilities and 1st floor hospitals, so patient overloads at the 2nd floor hospitals have been greatly reduced. Especially, the mortality rate has been controlled while the number of patients discharged from hospitals and recovered has increased continuously. Since August 23, the rate of patients given the all-clear has always been higher than the rate of hospitalized ones.
Assoc. Prof-Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu emphasized that this result has contributed to bringing Binh Duong to the peak of the pandemic along with two quite important reasons in the local strategy to stamp out pandemic with "locking and freezing" in 15 wards in Thuan An city, Di An city, Tan Uyen town and quickly offering vaccination for people. In the past few days, the number of F0 cases was increasing sharply because the province has conducted large-scale testing and put focus on these localities. Therefore, positive cases there are unlikely to spread in the community. Meanwhile, the province has administered nearly 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine. When the province can inject more than 70% of the population, the local situation of the pandemic will not be as severe as in the early days.
“When we are at the peak of Covid-19 pandemic, the question is how the province to effectively stamp out the pandemic. In order to effectively overcome the peak of the pandemic, the province needs to surmount 3 difficulties during this period, including strictly implementing social distance to prevent the pandemic from entering the "yellow zone" and "green zone"; maintaining the capacity of 3 treatment floors and being allocated enough vaccines from the Ministry of Health to inject about 70% of the population. If overcoming these three difficulties, Binh Duong will soon overcome the pandemic and return to the new normal state”, said Assoc. Prof-Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu.
As of August 29 morning, Binh Duong had more than 54,102 Covid-19 patients recovered and discharged from hospitals, accounting for nearly 54.76% of the total number of infections since the 4th pandemic wave. Only from August 19 to 29, the province had 39,326 Covid-19 patients given the all-clear, accounting for 72.68% of the total number of recoveries during the entire pandemic wave.
Reported by Kim Ha-Translated by Kim Tin
