On August 18, the Ministry of Health decided to assign seven central-level hospitals to directly provide professional support in the management and treatment of COVID-19 to Ho Chi Minh City’s relevant districts and Thu Duc City.
The assigned hospitals will send medical staff to directly provide on-site professional guidance, remote consultation, training, capacity building and quality monitoring, as well as coordinating with local medical authorities in timely and appropriately transferring COVID-19 patients and providing specialised support in intensive care for units managing and treating suspected and infected people at home.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that 13,145 health workers, including forces from the ministry and other provinces and cities in the north and central region, have been sent to support Ho Chi Minh City and other southern locales.
The ministry has also distributed ventilators, RT-PCR testing machines, ECMO systems, dialysis machines and millions of antigen rapid tests, in addition to mobilising businesses and organisations to provide medical support.
At a teleconference with 12 provinces in the Southwest region on August 18, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen urged localities to strengthen control of the outbreaks by boosting tracing work, home isolation, screening and testing and improving treatment, as well as accelerating their vaccination efforts against COVID-19.
Also on August 18, the K Hospital in Hanoi sent 25 medical workers to support the COVID-19 Emergency Resuscitation Centre in the southern province of Dong Nai. Previously, the hospital had sent two delegations, including 39 medical staff, to the southern region.
On the morning of the same day, in Hanoi, the General Department of Logistics (Ministry of National Defence) dispatched 80 military medical staff with equipment and vehicles to help the southern provinces fight the epidemic.
On August 18, the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City issued instructions on the order and procedures for receiving dossiers to settle financial supports for employees having had their labour contracts terminated but who are not eligible for the unemployment benefits set out in Resolution 68/NQ-CP and Decision 23/2021/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.
Accordingly, the department proposed the city’s Employment Service Centre or its branches located in Thu Duc City, District 4, District 6, Tan Binh District, District 12 and Cu Chi district receive requests from employees by the end of January 31, 2022. The process of receiving and reviewing dossiers and the settlement thereof is to be regulated by the department in five working days, whereafter each will be provided with VND 3,710,000 as stated in Decision 23 of the Prime Minister. Employees who are raising biological or adopted children, or taking care of children under the age of 6 are to be supported with an additional VND1 million per child (granted to a person who is the mother/father or a substitute carer).
