Civil servants will have seven days off for Tet, between February 14 and 20.
Medical staff at the hospitals will work shifts so that hospitals have staff on duty 24 hours daily. Medicine and medical equipment are also ready to serve patients during the Tet holiday, the Kinh te do thi (Urban economy) newspaper reported.
A representative of the Việt Nam – Germany Hospital, a hospital that often treats seriously injured patients, especially traffic accident victims, said the hospital was fully prepared.
All head and deputy head of the hospital’s departments were told to stay in Hanoi during the holiday so that they could serve in emergencies, he said.
The emergency department’s staff also had to take shifts to be on duty 24 hours daily as normal, he said.
The hospital also prepared Tet gifts for patients treated during the holiday.
In Bach Mai Hospital, Duong Duc Hung, head of the hospital’s Planning Office said a total of 350 doctors and nurses would be on duty during the holidays to ensure all patients were promptly treated.
The hospital has planned to provide free meals and gifts for patients staying at the hospital during Tet, he added.
Careful preparation also has been made at the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology as well as Hanoi Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The boards of the two hospitals would also be on duty during Tet.
Other hospitals, including Thanh Nhan, Dong Da, Ha Dong and Saint Paul, have stored enough medicine and asked doctors and nurses to take shifts during the holiday.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said the ministry would make random checks at several hospitals during Tet.
Tien said the ministry ordered all hospitals to assign doctors and nurses to take shifts to ensure patients were served 24 hours a day during the holiday.
All the hospitals were required to publish two hotlines, the hospital’s hotline and the ministry’s hotline, to receive people’s comments, she added.
If people found any doctor, nurse or medical staff not working on their shift or causing trouble for patients, people could contact the ministry’s hot line 1900.9095. “The ministry will immediately fix it”, she said.
The ministry also asked all hospitals to make plans to deal with emergencies, such as massive poisonings and traffic accidents.
