Doctor Nguyen Lan Hieu (left) at the meeting

Doctor Nguyen Lan Hieu, Director of the Hanoi Medical University Hospital and Director of the Binh Duong Emergency Resuscitation Field Hospital, who attended a recent meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and representatives of the frontline medical forces, made a number of suggestions on how Vietnam should act in the new period.

He proposed the removal of concentrated quarantine zones and field hospitals and the establishment of networks of care for patients at home at the commune and ward level.

If the suggestions receive approval, Covid-19 patients will be allowed to take care of themselves at home in accordance with criteria set by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The areas where cases are found would be put under isolation on a narrow scale. If the number of cases in a hamlet or enterprise increase sharply (more than 10 percent of random samples), the entire hamlet or enterprise will be isolated.

Cases that turn severe, patients with unstable underlying health conditions, and unvaccinated people will be hospitalized for treatment.

The strategy would be applied to all localities with high vaccination rates, including HCM City, Binh Duong and Hanoi.

He suggested that it would be better to split hospitals into two parts with two entrance gates for infected and uninfected people. Rapid tests can be used first.

Suspected infections need to be confirmed with PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests in buffer zones. If they are certain of being negative, they will be brought to the normal treatment area.

Hieu stressed that random testing needs to be carried out regularly on medical workers, patients and their relatives to eliminate any potential hotbed.

He said Covid-19 treatment areas in hospitals could be divided into three divisions – ICU (intensive care unit), medium-level treatment and post-Covid. They should also mobilize resources from the private healthcare sector for the fight against Covid-19.

“Not being afraid of Covid-19 is a new way of life that we need to accept,” he said. “Minimizing the mortality rate is our mission.”

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said at the meeting that the last five months were one of the most difficult and challenging times in the history of the healthcare sector.

Hundreds of thousands of doctors and medical workers in pandemic-hit cities and provinces and nearly 20,000 medical workers from central and local healthcare units have joined forces to fight Covid-19 in the country’s hotbeds.

“The outbreak has now been controlled in the epicenters and across the country,” Long said.

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