Among 10 beds, only one is in use at this COVID-19 hospital in HCM City. — Photo thanhnien.vn

HCM CITY — The number of COVID-19 hospitals in HCM City will be cut further following a significant decrease in new and severe cases of the disease.

Doctor Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh Châu, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Health, said the actual closure plan will be based on the COVID-19 situation after April 30 and May 1. 

Hopefully, there will not be another outbreak after the holiday, since most locals are fully vaccinated, he said.

The current disease prevention and control regimen has changed as per Government Resolution 38 on the COVID-19 pandemic prevention programme.

Now, pandemic prevention follows a risk management approach, shifting from the goal of controlling the number of cases to controlling the number of high-risk, very high-risk hospitalisations and deaths.

Relevant authorities are required to prepare scenarios for various possibilities including a large scale outbreak beyond the capacity of the local health system and the appearance of a new, more dangerous strain of COVID-19.

Now, with the situation basically under control, medical examination and treatment activities at the Chợ Rẫy Hospital have returned to normal, said Doctor Phạm Thanh Việt.

Meanwhile, leaders of some other hospitals in HCM City said that medical examination and treatment work has not yet fully returned to normal.

“Everyone should visit doctors when he or she is sick for prompt treatment. Wearing facial masks and frequent hand sanitisation must be done,” Việt said.

In fact, some hospitals in HCM City no longer require customers and patients to make medical declarations, although the regulation on this has not been removed.

Experts are agreed that relevant authorities should reconsider the need to make medical declarations.

According to a report prepared by the HCM City Department of Health, HCM City hospitals received nearly 6.8 million outpatient visits and more than 312,000 inpatient visits in the first quarter, a significant decrease over the same period last year.

In the same period, the number of medical examinations and treatment covered by health insurance decreased by more than 25 per cent. — VNS