All residents, especially pregnant women, should take precautionary measures against mosquito bites. — Photo tamvocviet.vn

HCM CITY — The HCM City Preventive Health Centre has been instructed to co-operate with five hospitals to set up procedures for testing, diagnoses, admission and treatment for patients, especially pregnant women infected with the Zika virus, as the number of Zika cases has increased.

Dr Tăng Chí Thượng, deputy head of the city’s Department of Health, said the Hospital for Tropical Diseases was the main unit in charge of testing, diagnosis and treatment for these patients under the Ministry of Health’s guidelines.

He spoke at a meeting on the establishment of the process held last week.

Dr Lê Mạnh Hùng, deputy head of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that tests for the Zika virus were being done among people with suspected symptoms and were prescribed by doctors only. Tests cannot be ordered by patients, he added.

For pregnant women who test positive for the virus, the hospital’s doctors provide counselling and send them to obstetrics hospitals for monitoring and treatment.

Thượng said that all health facilities should take samples and send it to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases for testing and diagnosis.

The tests’ results are reported to the city’s Pasteur Institute for Zika disease surveillance, he said.

A strict process of assessment for possible abortions should be done for pregnant women with the Zika virus whose fetuses are diagnosed with fetal microcephaly, an abnormally small head caused by the virus, he added.

After the process is officially issued, the department will open training courses for all health facilities in the city.

According to the Preventive Health Centre, the number of Zika cases had risen to 62 as of Sunday. The number of districts with Zika-infected patients increased to 16 of the total 24 districts in the city.

All residents, especially pregnant women, should take precautionary measures against mosquito bites. Water containers, which could be home to larvae, should be emptied. — VNS