A doctor checks blood pressure for a patient at Emergency Unit of Việt Nam-Cuba Friendship Hospital. Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — A new red-alert system implemented at hospitals in Hà Nội to quickly detect and treat at-risk patients is already saving lives, online newspaper Vietnamplus reported.

Like the life of a 67-year-old woman who was rushed to the Việt Nam-Cuba Friendship Hospital with severe respiratory distress. She was quickly diagnosed with gas poisoning believed to have started from a chemical reaction while she was cleaning.

Her condition was identified thanks to the red-alert system and was treated with assistance from Bạch Mai Hospital’s Poison Control Centre.

The woman, who is known as N.T.H, is one of dozens of patients whose lives have been saved thanks to the application of red alert system, said Trần Thị Nguyệt Nga, head of Internal medicine of Việt Nam-Cuba Friendship Hospital.

The code red alert system is the process of coordination and emergency assistance between hospitals to provide emergency services for patients in critical conditions that require expert help.

Nga said the hospital has used the inter-hospital red alert procedure when admitting emergency cases and recognised that it was effective, especially for those in critical conditions.

In May this year, H.M.H, 71, a resident from Hà Nội’s Hoàn Kiếm District had been suffering chest pains for five days but he didn’t go to see the doctors due to a fear of COVID-19 pandemic.

He was sent to the hospital in a tired state and was ordered to take an electrocardiogram by doctors.

After getting the result, the doctors decided to transfer the patient to Hà Nội Heart Hospital. While the nurse was doing the transfer procedure, the patient had cardiac arrest.

Doctors who were on duty immediately conducted emergency aid and other methods to support him on the way to the hospital. Thanks to timely treatment, his life has been saved. The man is in stable condition now.

The life of a 73-year-old woman, a resident from Hoàn Kiếm District who suffers diabetes, was also saved in the same way.

According to Nga, the red alarm system within hospitals is constantly being improved.

For inpatients, when patients have anaphylaxis, any department can call the red alert system which include a list of faculty leaders and qualified doctors who will work with the emergency department of the internal medicine department as the main force to handle the emergency.

When the patient is out of danger, the treatment will be continued.

Lists of emergency departments at hospitals include Thanh Nhàn, Saint Paul, Bạch Mai, Hà Nội Heart Institute. When there are patients who need to be transferred to other hospitals, the doctors will contact them and give timely support.

Once applying inter-hospital red alert procedure, a hospital will eliminate normal administrative systems to provide emergency treatment, she added.

Nguyễn Đình Phúc, director of Việt Nam-Cuba Friendship Hospital said that the hospital's red alert system has become more and more complete and gradually effective in recent years.

“When the patient arrives at the hospital, they will be screened and diagnosed quickly. In case of need, doctors will promptly contact with relevant hospitals."

To improve the effectiveness of the red alarm system, the hospital has organised many training courses, especially first aid to stop respiratory circulation, anaphylactic so medical staff can handle the incident when it occurs, he said. – VNS