VietNamNet Bridge – Temperatures of around 10 Celsius degrees have been associated with a higher-than-usual number of elderly people and children requiring treatment for respiratory and cardiovascular-related diseases in recent days, doctors say.

Hanoi on the coldest day

A student from Viet Duc High School in Ha Noi. Another stronger cold spell is expected to hit northern provinces including Ha Noi in the middle of this week.

The National Hospital of Paediatrics in Ha Noi had been inundated with more than 13,000 children for check-ups and treatment this week, much higher than on normal days, said Doctor Bui Minh Hien, deputy head of the hospital's Respiratory Diseases Department.

More than 100 children from northern localities, including Ha Noi, Hung Yen and Thanh Hoa, were being seen by the department each day, Hien said.

The cold weather provided favourable conditions for viruses to penetrate into children's body, leading them to get respiratory-related diseases which could turn into pneumonia if they didn't get correct and timely treatment, Hien said.

Nguyen Thu Trang, mother of a two-year-old boy in Dong Da District's To Vinh Dien Street, said her son had a fever and serious cough for more than 10 days. Meanwhile, geriatric wards of Bach Mai, Saint Paul hospitals also reported receiving hundreds of elderly people with cardiovascular and reticulation-related diseases.

In the past two weeks, the Central Hospital of Geriatrics alone reported receiving more than 400 elderly patients, 30 per cent higher than on normal days.

Doctor Nguyen Trung Anh, head of the hospital's Health Check-up Department, said problems the elderly reported were related to reticulation, blood pressure and cardiovascular issues.

Hospitals of northern up-land provinces such as Lao Cai or Lai Chau reported receiving 100-200 cases a day during the cold weather.

Doctors warned the elderly not to go out at night and in the early morning during the cold weather and to maintain their indoor exercises. They also warned parents that if their children lost weight, were tired, had fevers or had problems with their breathing, they should be taken to a hospital to be examined.

Nguyen Hiep Thong, deputy director of Ha Noi Education and Training Department, said the department had yet to release an announcement to schools to allow their students with cold symptoms to take time off and to keep the rest of their students warm.

Protecting livestock

No cattle deaths have been reported in the northern provinces since the beginning of the cold spell, thanks to improvements to stock shelters across the north, said the Animal Husbandry Department of the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry. This was in contrast to the losses of hundreds of thousands of livestock in northern provinces between 2008-12 valued at VND300 billion (US$14.2 million) due to cold weather.

The department's Tien Hong Phuc said the ministry has advised households before the winter to prepare pens for the livestock, with an average 7kg of straw per day to be provided for each animal.

Localities had been asked to give financial assistance to poor households who couldn't afford to provide their livestock with shelter, he said.

When the temperature drops to below 12C degrees, households have been advised to move their cattle to a clean pen for warmth, he said.

Localities were asked to seek help from the ministry if their residents couldn't protect their livestock.

The latest cold spell, which was forecast to end today, is the second to have been reported in the northern region this winter.

Source: VNS