Deputy Health Ministry Nguyễn Trường Sơn (right) visits the Tân Bình COVID-19 Treatment Field Hospital when it official opened on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of the ministry

HCM CITY — The Tân Bình COVID-19 Treatment Field Hospital managed by personnel of Thống Nhất Hospital opened on Hoàng Văn Thụ Street in HCM City’s Tân Bình District on Wednesday.

This is the first field hospital in the city to provide treatment to all three kinds of COVID-19 patients – those with mild, medium or serious illness. Other field hospitals in the city are now usually specialised in one of the three patient groups.

Speaking at the inauguration of the field hospital on Wednesday, vice chairman of Tân Bình District People’s Committee said that as the COVID-19 pandemic was developing citywide, the district authority was aware of the importance of available resources.

The district’s COVID-19 prevention and control committee actively co-operated with Thống Nhất Hospital to establish a field hospital.

Lê Đình Thanh, director of Thống Nhất Hospital and Tân Bình COVID-19 Treatment Field Hospital, said that as existing hospitals across the city were all overloaded due to increasing COVID-19 infections, it was difficult to transfer COVID-19 patients between facilities.

Thanh said that as a field hospital designed to receive COVID-19 patients with all levels of illness, the Tân Bình Field Hospital would help patients reduce travel and access proper medical care as soon as they were taken to the hospital.

With a total of 1,000 beds, the field hospital arranged 50 beds for patients who need intensive care, 150 beds for patients who are in critical health conditions, 500 beds for patients with medium illness and 300 beds for patients with mild illness, Thanh said.

The hospital would make necessary adjustments to match practical demand and ensure effective treatment, Thanh said.

Besides personnel from Thống Nhất Hospital, the Tân Bình Field Hospital also got support from Tân Bình General Hospital, Tân Bình Medical Centre and other medical facilities in the district, Thanh said.

Deputy Health Minister Nguyễn Trường Sơn, who is leading the ministry’s task force to support HCM City in COVID-19 prevention and control, said that the last three months was a very tough time for HCM City to cope with the pandemic.

“Restless efforts have been made to ramp up COVID-19 testing, vaccination and treatment,” Sơn said.

Together with other COVID-19 treatment facilities in the city, the Tân Bình field hospital would create convenience for COVID-19 patients in accessing medical care quickly and effectively, Sơn said.

Also on Wednesday, the field hospital received two high flow nasal cannulae (HFNC) ventilators from HCM City Party’s Committee. — VNS