During a conference held in Thanh Hoa Province on November 6 to review the work thus far and discuss the new phase in the COVID-19 fight in Vietnam, Associate Professor, Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of Medical Examination and Treatment Administration under the Health Ministry, pointed to four key measures, the first being the reasonable treatment division in four different levels of treatment based on the severity of COVID-19 patients, including commune level (clinic), district level (hospital, medical centre); provincial level (general hospital, specialised hospital) and central level (for critically ill patients).
Khue, who is also Deputy Head of the Treatment Subcommittee under the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, added that the second group of measures is regularly updating diagnostic and treatment guidelines as recommended by the World Health Organisation and basing these on the treatment experience of countries around the world, as well as combining different treatment methods and issuing health care guidelines and safety criteria for hospitals in regards to the prevention and control of the disease.
The next is the establishment of the centre for diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients which gathers leading experts in the diagnosis and treatment for critically ill patients, along with the establishment of hundreds of mobile teams to provide direct support to local-level hospitals that provide treatment for COVID-19 patients.
The fourth is testing expansion. From only three units engaging in testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, there are now more than 50 hospitals capable of undertaking SARS-CoV-2 confirmation tests, helping hospitals remain proactive in testing while reducing waiting time for patients and easing any overload on the health system in terms of testing.
In addition, it is worth mentioning the effective coordination between the whole system of health facilities across the country in synchronously implementing various COVID-19 prevention and control solutions, as well as the active nature and willingness of medical staff in their treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Truong Son, Deputy Minister of Health cum Head of the Treatment Subcommittee, praised the sub-committee in deploying appropriate solutions with access to advanced experience from across the world while focusing their highest efforts on treating their patients.
Such active participation has helped bring about success in the COVID-19 treatment regiment in Vietnam, as shown by impressive indicators such as up to 96.4% of COVID-19 patients in the country having recovered, including severely ill patients with co-morbidities, while minimising the death rate and limiting the rate of cross-infection in medical examination and treatment establishments.
By this morning, Vietnam has entered the 65th straight day without locally-transmitted cases. However, as the epidemic is still developing in a complicated manner around the world, while commercial flights have been reopened, experts also warned of the risk of COVID-19’s recurrence in Vietnam.
Hospitals and the whole system of medical examination and treatment facilities are suggested to clearly define risk and maintain vigilance, while continuing to thoroughly apply and improve epidemic prevention and control activities toward an immediate response to any further outbreaks.
