HCM CITY —  The life of a five-year-old child whose chest was punctured by a steel bar after he fell from the third floor of a building was saved by doctors last week who took part in HCM City’s Red Alert emergency procedure.

Doctors at Thống Nhất Hospital in the city’s Tân Bình District provided emergency aid for the boy and then activated the Red Alert to ask for assistance from Paediatrics Hospital 1.

At Paediatrics Hospital 1, Dr Đào Trung Hiếu, the deputy head of the hospital, was alerted and immediately went to Thống Nhất Hospital to conduct surgery.

After the surgery, the patient was brought to Paediatrics Hospital 1 for further treatment and check-up.

A cardiovascular ultrasound detected an abnormal blood clot in the centre of chest, Hiếu said, adding that a second surgery was performed to remove the clot.

The boy is now recovering in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Under the Red Alert procedure, which began in 2010 under the municipal Department of Health’s requirement, doctors in the city cooperate to save the life of patients.

In late August, the Red Alert procedure helped save the life of a patient who had suffered electric shock.

Dr Trần Văn Khanh, head of the District 2 Hospital, said the patient was admitted with severe bleeding, a heart rate disorder, and a damaged liver.

Khanh initiated the Red Alert process, with Gia Định People Hospital assisting.

Twenty minutes later, Gia Định People Hospital’s surgeons and other doctors arrived at District 2 Hospital to perform surgery alongside Gia Dinh’s doctors.

Without the Red Alert, the patient could have died on the way to Gia Định People Hospital, Khanh said.

At a Red Alert rehearsal at District 11 Hospital in late August, Dr Nguyễn Đình Phú, head of 115 People Hospital, said the procedure was necessary in emergency conditions because the skills of doctors in the city varied.

If doctors at a hospital do not have the capacity to treat certain patients in serious health conditions, then the Red Alert process should be activated.

Tăng Chí Thượng, the Health Department’s deputy head, said that it was critical to provide good first emergency aid.

Emergency ward doctors can evaluate the patient’s condition and then activate a Red Alert to seek help from doctors at another hospital.

Thượng said that a Red Alert steering board had been set up to improve implementation of the procedure.

Nguyễn Tấn Bỉnh, head of the department, said that only several hospitals in the city were currently carrying out the Red Alert procedure.

In the future, the department will instruct all public and private hospitals in the city to use the Red Alert process when conditions require it. — VNS