HCMC – Five national intensive care centers for Covid-19 patients will be set up in the northern, central and southern parts of Vietnam, the Ministry of Health told a meeting with the southern virus-hit provinces yesterday, July 21.
The meeting was convened to collect feedback for the ministry’s project to enhance the intensive care capacity of local hospitals to treat Covid-19 cases in critical condition.
Given the fast spread of the coronavirus throughout the country, it is necessary for developing intensive care centers to promptly provide medical treatment for coronavirus patients, the ministry said.
According to the project, these national facilities will include one at Bach Mai Hospital and another at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, one at the Hue Central Hospital in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, one at the Cho Ray Hospital in HCMC, and one at the HCMC Oncology Hospital No.2.
Each center is set to have 500-1,000 beds. Besides, nearly 30 hospitals are tasked with establishing intensive care units for regions, with each unit having 50-100 beds.
Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment under the ministry, said that the project was developed given the need for local hospitals and provinces to develop the emergency and intensive care facilities to not only cope with Covid-19 but also other non-infectious diseases.
However, the project should select hospitals with better expertise to set up the intensive care centers to support other provinces, he added.
At the meeting, experts also suggested that emergency and intensive care centers should be put up at existing facilities, which only need to be renovated and installed with additional equipment to be put into operation.
