HÀ NỘI – The first hot spell of summer, with temperatures reaching up to 40 degrees Celsius, is threatening people’s health, especially children and the elderly, with hospitals in Hà Nội seeing a large number of patients with respiratory and high-blood pressure-cardiovascular problems.      

Việt Nam National Heart Institute under Bạch Mai Hospital, over the last week, has received 20 per cent more patients than on normal days.

Dr Trần Viết Lực, head of the Central Geriatric Hospital’s Medical Examination Faculty said the elderly suffer body water shortages and pneumonia due to prolonged hot weather, so latent diseases such as high-blood pressure and cardiovascular were striking.      

Dr Tạ Hữu Ánh, deputy head of the hospital’s intensive care unit, said patients suffering high blood pressure should take daily medicine under doctor’s guidance as a precaution against strokes.

However, the doctor said many patients above 65 ignored doctor’s guidance and only took medicine when they felt ill. 

The National Paediatrics Hospital saw an increasing number of patients over the last few days, hospital deputy director Trần Minh Điển said, with most patients suffering from respiratory problems, diarrhea and viruses.

Children’s Hospital in Hải Phòng City reported an increased number of encephalitis patients with 58 cases since early May against a total 130 cases in 2015. 

“Children who get encephalitis children on hot days are aged from 5 to 10. Parents easily mistake the signs of encephalitis for sunstroke,” Dr Hoàng Ngọc Anh of the hospital warned.

But, Anh said doctors haven’t determined what virus caused encephalitis in the area. 

“We are working with experts from the Hà Nội-based National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, and from Britain’s Oxford University to find the cause of encephalitis,” said Dr Hoàng Ngọc Anh.

The hospital reported 600 children came to the clinic every day, of which 100 were hospitalised for treatment.

In the south, HCM City Tropical Diseases Hospital reported an encephalitis-affected child died in late May, the first Neisseria meningitidis bacterium case in the city this year.    

HCM City Children’s Hospital No1 has seen an increasing number of patients with Japanese encephalitis and meningitis in recent days.

HCM City’s Health Department reported that over the last week, there were 148 hand-foot-mouth disease cases, an increase by 10 per cent against previous weeks.

Doctors have warned adults to keep children in airy homes during hot days, avoid bathing in the sea from 10am-4pm, vaccinate fully and maintain a clean living area. — VNS