HCM CITY — Thống Nhất Hospital in HCM City’s Tân Bình District yesterday opened a field hospital to provide prompt treatment for mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 cases.

The 1,000-bed hospital, which was set up in the Tân Bình Exhibition and Convention Centre, will admit COVID-19 patients beginning this weekend.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Lê Đình Thanh, director of Thống Nhất Hospital, said the COVID-19 outbreak had overwhelmed the city's healthcare system, making it unsafe to transfer patients from one hospital to another.

The field hospital will adopt a three-level treatment model with 300 beds for patients with mild symptoms, 650 beds for patients with moderate symptoms and 50 beds for severe cases, said Thanh, who was assigned to be the director of the field hospital.

A total of 139 doctors and nurses, including retired staff, will offer treatment for COVID-19 patients. Health staff from different medical facilities will also be assigned to work at the field hospital.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Trường Sơn asked local authorites to ensure stable medical supplies for the hospital and put the safety of health staff as a priority.

People with COVID-19 should be able to access primary medical support in a timely manner, which will help reduce the number of critically ill patients and death rates caused by late access to treatment, he said.

More than 32,660 COVID-19 patients are under treatment at medical facilities in the city, including 1,978 children, according to the city’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of the figure, more than 2,200 severe cases need a ventilator and 16 critically ill patients need extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

As of Wednesday morning, the city had recorded a total of 158,499 COVID-19 cases in the fourth wave that began in late April, including 403 imported cases and the remaining community-acquired infections. — VNS