Doctors of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in HCM City have treated 880 severe cases in the fourth wave that started in late April, discharging 378 so far.. Photo courtesy of the hospital’s fanpage

HCM CITY— Doctors at HCM City hospitals continue to get severe COVID-19 patients, and try all they can to keep fatalities low, including performing caesarean sections on some to deliver babies. 

On July 28 doctors at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Từ Dũ Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital successfully performed a caesarean on a patient with severe COVID and delivered a baby boy weighing nearly two kilogrammes.  

The 39-year-old mother was admitted to the former hospital’s department of emergency-intensive care and poison control for adult patients in her 34th week of pregnancy.

Until July 28 she was suffering from respiratory failure, the foetal heart rate was 180 beats per minute, and there were signs of foetal distress.

Dr Dương Bích Thủy, the department’s deputy head, said on the hospital’s fanpage that her hospital summoned doctors from Từ Dũ Hospital to perform the caesarean section.

The surgery took an hour, and the healthy child has been sent to Từ Dũ Hospital for care while his mother continues to undergo treatment.

The hospital’s doctors have treated 880 severe cases in the fourth wave that started in late April, discharging 378 so far. Another 476 remain under treatment while 46 people died.  

Of those discharged, many had life-threatening conditions. Two siblings from the neighbouring province of Long An for example were treated for two months before they recovered.

They were brought to the hospital with severe COVID. One of them, aged 31, required high-flow nasal cannula oxygen non-invasive ventilation due to rapidly progressive pneumonia and respiratory failure.

The other, 22, required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation because of severe lung damage, disseminated intravascular coagulation - a serious disorder in which the proteins that control blood clotting become overactive - obesity, and type 2 diabetes.  

COVID-19 Resuscitation Hospital in Thủ Đức City discharged 17 patients on July 26. Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Trường Sơn described it as a very special day for the hospital since all had had life-threatening conditions.

Dr Nguyễn Tri Thức, head of the hospital and also of Chợ Rẫy Hospital, said it had so far admitted more than 400 patients. Besides the 17 who recovered and were discharged, 66 had improved a great deal and are on the way to recovery.   

The Thủ Đức District Hospital has admitted 348 patients and discharged 78 so far.  

According to the city Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, 3,131 patients were discharged from city hospitals on July 29.  

They are treating 36,378 others, including 847 severe cases using ventilators and 14 with ECMO machines.

The Department of Health has instructed hospitals to focus on severe cases and those with high risks like people aged above 65 years and those with underlying medical conditions.

It has upgraded facilities and increased personnel at field hospitals.

Private hospitals have been called to help with the treatment amid the steady increase in incidence.

Three more intensive care centres with 3,000 beds will be set up to prevent fatalities. VNS