A room designed to treat COVID-19 patients at Long An General Hospital in southern Long An Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health has asked hospitals nationwide to strengthen health check-up and treatment services to ensure enough resources for COVID-19 patients.

This move is a part of efforts to cope with the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic after an increase in terms of new cases and critically ill patients, particularly in response to serious situations in a number of localities.

The ministry requires all hospitals at district-level and level-2 hospitals to have at least two central oxygen systems and prepare equipment and human resources to perform high-flow oxygen therapy via the high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) technique.

At general hospitals from level-1 and higher, Intensive Care Unit must have at least 50 beds and be ready to expand to 100 beds with a central oxygen system and train staff to perform advanced resuscitation techniques (such as invasive mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and dialysis) and to receive and treat critical COVID-19 patients.

Those hospitals who are assigned to be in charge of each region need to set up an emergency centre to receive critical COVID-19 patients if local hospitals become overloaded.

Hospitals at central level are required to strengthen and expand the Intensive Care Units to be ready to receive and treat critically ill patients from lower-level hospitals and to train and prepare staff to assist provincial hospitals when needed.

The ministry is also asking localities to review and take measures to prevent the shortage of oxygen.

In another move, Hà Nội authorities have given the nod to the city’s Centre for Disease Control to take samples of those who show signs of fever and coughing from July 10 to July 25 as well as those coming from pandemic-hit areas for COVID-19 tests. — VNS