HCM City hospitals are ensuring that emergency aid, medicine and medical personnel are available for the Tết holiday as the number of traffic accidents, food poisoning incidents and drunk driving incidents increases. — Photo congan.com.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City hospitals are ensuring that emergency aid, medicine and medical personnel are available for the Tết holiday as the number of traffic accidents, food poisoning incidents and drunk driving incidents increases.

Dr Tăng Chí Thượng, the department’s deputy head, said that 22 satellite emergency aid stations were set up throughout the city last year. They are located at 14 district-level hospitals, two city-level hospitals, five private hospitals and the city’s 115 emergency aid centre.

The department plans to ensure that each district has at least one emergency aid station.

A steering board for the operation of satellite emergency aid stations was also set up to work with the city’s 115 emergency aid centre.

During Tết, these stations and their staff and ambulances will take no more than three or five minutes to reach accident victims after receiving emergency-aid information.

Since mid-December last year, Chợ Rẫy Hospital has been ordering medicine and other medical materials to meet demand during Tết.

As of January 20, the hospital had enough medicine until the end of February.

Moreover, medicine for specialised wards will also be available at the hospital for the next two or three months.

The city’s Trauma Orthopaedics Hospital has also increased the number of doctors at its emergency aid wards. The wards often have to treat many intoxicated men involved in fights during the holiday.  

At Bình Dân Hospital, doctors will be divided into two shifts for treatment, emergency aid and surgery. They will work extra hours on the first and the last days of the holidays, January 26, January 31, and February 1 and 2.

Xuyên Á General Hospital’s doctors and nurses will be available for emergency aid as the hospital is located near Highway 22 where traffic accidents often occur. It is also near the city’s northwestern entry to Tây Ninh Province and Cambodia.

The head of Thủ Đức District Hospital, Dr Nguyễn Minh Quân, said that all doctors in their emergency-aid wards would be working during the holiday, when the number of patients often increases 15-20 per cent.

The city said that paediatrics hospitals were ready to provide treatment for food poisoning, diarrhea and cases of people choking on food.

Dr Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà, deputy head of the city’s Paediatrics Hospital in Bình Chánh District, said the hospital would have 100 doctors, 20 beds and three ambulances on duty during the holiday period.

The Department of Health has instructed health preventive centres and other health facilities to continue to take measures to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, dengue fever and hand-foot-mouth disease.  

In Hà Nội, hospitals under the central government such as Việt Đức and Bạch Mai have also made plans to ensure sufficient health exams and treatment during Tết.

Like Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City, Việt Đức Hospital is a hotspot for admitting patients from grassroots hospitals who have been seriously injured in traffic and labour accidents.

During Tết, the number of patients admitted for emergency aid is expected to rise by 20 per cent. Nearly 400 medical staff at the hospital will be on duty, while five surgery rooms will be available.

Bạch Mai Hospital has three teams of doctors and nurses ready to provide emergency aid in the case of a disaster, in addition to 350 people on duty.

The hospital said it would also ensure that patients receive their regular dialysis treatments during Tết.  —VNS