HCMC – The HCMC health authority is set to retain three Covid field hospitals—No.13, 14 and 16—that have intensive care units (ICU) and gradually scale down the others and return them to their original state by the end of the year, said the city’s health official.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, September 26, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, chief of the HCMC Health Department’s Office, said that protecting the lives and ensuring the safety of people is the city’s top priority during this time. Accordingly, depending on the Covid situation, the city would reduce the number of field hospitals and restore their original function and admit non-Covid patients.
According to the Health Department, the current fourth wave of the coronavirus in the city has passed its peak and the city’s Covid containment efforts are starting to prove effective.
Under the department’s plan, Covid field hospitals citywide would be scaled down once they complete the task of treating Covid patients. By the end of December, field hospitals that had been converted from schools are expected to resume to their original state.
As for field hospitals in safe zones, they would resume original operations by the end of this month to provide medical treatment to non-Covid patients.
Earlier, at another press briefing on September 22, Mai said the city was developing a roadmap to convert 80 Covid field hospitals that treat asymptomatic cases, those with mild symptoms or symptomatic ones to their original function. Regarding 10 other field hospitals that treat critically ill patients, they would be maintained as critical cases needing long term treatment.
As of September 25, the city had reported more than 367,000 Covid cases. Among over 39,200 active cases, some 1,900 severely-ill patients are relying on ventilators, while 23 others need ECMO support.
