Some 400 health workers at state-owned hospitals and health facilities in HCM City have quit their jobs due to low income. — VNA/VNS Photo Đan Phương

HCM CITY — In the first three months of the year, around 400 health workers at State-owned hospitals and health facilities in HCM City quit their jobs for many different reasons, mainly low pay, according to the city’s Department of Health.

Tăng Chí Thượng, director of the department, said the exhaustion following months of fighting COVID-19 and low income were the main reasons for the resignations.

Lê Thiện Quỳnh Như, deputy chief of the Office of the department, said the revenue of the medical facilities had decreased due to the impact of the pandemic.

Medical workers have had to work harder and take more risks during the pandemic, but many say they have been rewarded with pay cuts.

Other common reasons leading to the resignation of health workers were lengthy commutes and an uncomfortable working environment, she said.

The department has proposed several solutions to the municipal People’s Committee to prevent more health workers from leaving, Như said.

In the first 10 months of 2021, nearly 1,000 health workers across the city quit their jobs, mainly at ward and commune levels.

The city’s Department of Health has released an official dispatch of updated guidelines on caring for COVID-19 infected cases at home, including children, to replace the old one issued on January 6.

It noted some issues involving subjects allowing self-quarantine at home, drugs required to treat COVID-19, receiving confirmed infections (F0), completing self-quarantine confirmation, and shortening the self-quarantine period at home.

Among updated guidances, if F0s undergoing self-treatment at home are in high-risk groups, people aged 50 and above, pregnant women, and those suffering from underlying health issues and having not had enough total doses of COVID-19 vaccine are encouraged to quarantine elsewhere to reduce the risk of spreading the disease to other members.

Health centres at grassroots levels could receive F0s from many different sources, such as F0s confirmed via the online declaration system.

The commune-level health centres must assign staff to receive messages from supportive portal 1022 informing new F0s, then check and receive F0s within 24 hours.

If F0s do not declare their information on the online declaration system, the commune-level health centres must record and update their information on the city’s online COVID-19 management digital platform.

If they have a negative COVID-19 test result on the seventh day of self-quarantine, the commune-level health centres will provide certificates of disease recovery and self-quarantine completion.

If they have a positive COVID-19 test result on the seventh day of self-quarantine, the commune-level health centres will continue quarantine for 10 days for F0s with a full dose of vaccine or for 14 days for F0s not receiving enough vaccine dose. And they will get a test on the 10th or 14th day. — VNS