The hallway became a place to treat people with severe dengue fever 3
At the beginning of the week, along the corridor of Infection Department D, Ho Chi Minh City Tropical Diseases Hospital, there were about 10 dengue fever patients lying on extra beds.
Wiping the beads of sweat from her husband’s forehead, Ms. Vu Ngoc Ninh, living in Binh Phuoc, said that her husband, Le Thanh Sang, 41 years old, had dengue fever on Friday. On the afternoon of June 27, he was admitted to the District Hospital.
`The doctors and nurses are very attentive, they proactively lend us fans and check on us regularly. As long as there is a place for treatment, a little heat is okay,` Ms. Ninh said.
Dengue fever patients have to lie in the hallway because the Tropical Diseases Hospital is overloaded.
Infection Department D used to specialize in F0 cases, but now the dengue fever epidemic is predominant, the unit once again changed its function.
In particular, the Adult Emergency – Intensive Care – Poison Control Department (ICU) only has 22 beds but must `carry` 32 patients, of which 10 are dengue fever cases.
`We are trying to cope, but if the number of cases continues to increase, we are afraid it will be difficult to cope,` said Dr. Nguyen Thanh Dung, Director of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
By the end of June 27, this facility had 739 patients, of which 394 were dengue fever cases, accounting for 53%.
Similarly, at the City Children’s Hospital, Dr. Nguyen Minh Tien, Deputy Director, said that from the beginning of the year until now, the unit has received more than 4,500 outpatient examinations and more than 2,000 inpatient cases, double the number of outpatient examinations.
`80% of pediatric patients are transferred from the Western and Eastern provinces, showing that they are also overloaded, not just Ho Chi Minh City,` said Dr. Tien.
According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son, the dengue fever epidemic in Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces is developing complicatedly and is likely to break out on a large scale in the near future.
Explaining the cause of overcrowding, Dr. Dung said that in the South there are three tertiary hospitals treating dengue fever for children, but the Hospital for Tropical Diseases accepts both adults and children.
As for City Children’s, the hospital is located next to the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong highway, making it more convenient for pediatric patients from the Western provinces to get medical examination and treatment than hospitals in the inner city.
Not only are they overloaded with patients, Children’s 1 and Children’s City also face a lack of drugs to treat severe dengue fever cases, such as polymeric infusions of Dextran and HES 200,000 daltons, and dopamine vasopressors.
The nurse adjusts the macromolecular infusion fluid for the pediatric patient with dengue shock at noon on June 27.
To reduce pressure, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases will stop accepting pediatric dengue patients and transfer these cases to three specialized pediatric hospitals, reserving all beds for adults.
Dr. Tien also believes that it is necessary to train to improve the capacity of private medical facilities, helping doctors to diagnose dengue fever early and treat it on the spot.
In particular, if you want the number of hospitalizations due to dengue fever to decrease, the number of cases in the community must decrease.
