Admissions spike at paediatric hosptials
HCM CITY (VNS)— Paediatric hospitals in HCM City have been overloaded in recent months because of the breakouts of multiple diseases like dengue fever, respiratory illnesses, and hand-foot-mouth disease, doctors said.
Nearly 7,000 children are brought to the HCM City Paediatric Hospital No.1 every day, Nguyen Thanh Hung, the hospital's deputy head, said, leaving doctors exhausted.
The number of children admitted with dengue fever this month is up 10 per cent compared to the same period last year, Dr Le Thi Bich Lien, another deputy head, said.
It now has 57 children with this disease, including 20 who are on IV fluids in the emergency room, she added.
Dr Tran Anh Tuan, head of the hospital's respiratory diseases ward, said there were 300 patients daily in the first few days of last week.
The Paediatric Hospital No.2 gets around 5,000 children for diagnosis every day, with 1,750 of them being hospitalised, leading to a serious shortage of beds.
Two or three share a bed in the infectious diseases ward.
Of the 1,750 admitted daily, nearly 400 have respiratory problems like bronchitis and asthma, Dr Tran Thi Thu Loan, head of the respiratory diseases ward, said.
Dr Do Chau Viet, head of the infectious diseases ward, said many of his patients are in serious condition.
Pham Mai Dang, deputy head of the Paediatric Hospital No.2's general planning office, said the recent weather changes caused a spike in the outbreak of diseases. —VNS