For the past week, the emergency area for serious patients at Field Hospital No. 12 has received about 25-30 cases per day.
`When Ho Chi Minh City conducted widespread testing from August 23, F0 increased rapidly, people were worried that there would be an overload of serious emergency patients, but in reality, the number of emergency cases decreased,` said Dr. Pham Dang Trong.
Field Hospital No. 12 is one of about 30 field hospitals that were urgently set up by Ho Chi Minh City on the basis of requisitioning existing infrastructure such as dormitories, new apartments that have not been put into use, and schools.
According to the initial treatment stratification of Ho Chi Minh City, the field hospital is on the lowest level, only receiving mild or asymptomatic F0 patients.
Severe decrease in F0 at admission was recorded at most other field hospitals.
Medical staff at a field hospital converted from an apartment complex in Ho Chi Minh City, July. Photo: Huu Khoa
One of the reasons why the number of severe F0 patients admitted to the hospital has decreased, according to Dr. Dung, is thanks to the city’s good vaccine coverage.
Good management of F0 from the beginning with the establishment of mobile medical stations, mobilization of many forces, especially military doctors to treat F0 at home, establishment of centralized field quarantine areas at district levels
The strategy of treating asymptomatic F0 and mild symptoms at home and in the community has been promoted by Ho Chi Minh City since mid-August. Since then, the field hospital has only received and accepted F0 patients in need of emergency and treatment.
Faced with the fact that the proportion of F0 receiving quarantine care at home has increased, accounting for about 40% of the total number of F0 being treated, and the number of recovered cases being discharged from the hospital is increasing, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector is calculating a plan to gradually reduce the number of facilities.
`This is a big plan, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health is setting up a specialized team to build it,` a Department leader told VnExpress, September 21.
In the Covid-19 epidemic prevention plan after September 15, sent to the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, the Department said that only a few field hospitals will be maintained to accommodate Covid-19 treatment.
Ho Chi Minh City continues to maintain and increase the capacity of 10 hospitals and national recovery centers until the epidemic is controlled;
Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son (Head of the Special Standing Department of the Ministry of Health supporting Covid-19 prevention in Ho Chi Minh City), said that the development of a restructuring plan for field facilities,
According to Deputy Minister Son, the epidemic situation in Ho Chi Minh City shows positive signs, the number of new cases has decreased despite implementing a rapid testing strategy, and the positive rate on the number of test samples has decreased significantly.
The calculation of gradually reducing the number of field hospitals is considered by some institute leaders to be an early roadmap to help effectively use resources and save hospital operating costs.
Doctors believe that when F0 is well managed and cared for at home, the number of seriously ill patients gradually decreases. Each hospital setting up its own area to treat Covid-19 patients according to the `split` model may have met the needs.
Le Phuong