Nguyễn Văn Thường, deputy director of Saint Paul Hospital, one of top general hospitals in the capital city, said common summer epidemics involved acute diarrhoea, food poisoning, acute respiratory illnesses, virus infections, Japanese encephalitis, chicken-pox and meningitis.
In April and the first 15 days of May, hospitals in the city reported a normal number of patients, but saw increases in chicken-pox and mumps. In April, there were 10 children hospitalised due to the above diseases.
Doctor Thường said adults should have preventative measures in place for children, especially for acute respiratory ailments that are common during the hot, muggy weather when the development and spread of viruses and bacterium is prevalent.
There are about 200 types of common viruses that cause summer diseases. Most were benign diseases except for chicken-pox and petechial fever.
“Adults need take children with symptoms to a hospital early to prevent complications,” the doctor said. Such symptoms include a sore throat, rhinitis and tonsil infections, the first signs of fever, body pains and head-aches, snivels, vomiting and exhaustion.
He warned people to continually apply preventative methods such as hand washing before eating and after using the rest-room, the safe processing of food, keeping a clean living environment and destroying mosquito larvae.
Adults also need take children to health centres to make sure their vaccinations were up-to-date.
Director of Ba Vì District general hospital, Nguyễn Quang Hùng, said since early April the number of patients was still normal.
Aiming to create favourable conditions for local people, the hospital has arranged health check-ups at an early time and have prepared a considerable amount of medicine for the summer, as well as sending health staff to central hospitals for training.
The National Centre for Hydrometeorological Forecasting have predicted that prolonged hot spells will hit the north of Việt Nam in the coming period.
To lessen the harmful effects of the hot weather, the city’s Health Department has asked all State and private hospitals to train health staff specifically on summer diseases, and to upgrade their infrastructure.
The city’s Preventative Medicine Centre and districts’ health centres have organised emergency training courses on sunstroke.
Districts’ education and communication centres have guided people on hot weather preventative methods and the health benefits of personal and environmental cleanliness.
