LookAtVietnam – To reduce pressure on major hospitals in big cities and provinces, swine-flu patients can now be isolated and treated at provincial general hospitals.
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Students at A Chau Secondary School in HCM City’s District 3 have their temperatures checked before starting their classes as authorities boost measures to curb swine flu. |
In future, according to the minister, all patients will be treated at hospitals or medical units instead of at home.
Drugstores will also be prohibited from selling Tamiflu to the general public, even if people have a prescription. All patients will have to be isolated and treated at hospitals.
“A/H1N1 flu self-treatment at home increases the risk of Tamiflu resistance in the community,” said the director of the Examination and Management Department at the Ministry of Health, Ly Ngoc Kinh.
The ministry has recommended that people should not buy Tamiflu and treat themselves at home because health-treatment units provide the drug free of charge.
The ministry said it had reserved enough doses of Tamiflu for hospitals and health units to treat all patients.
“Most A/H1N1 cases can be isolated and treated at provincial and district hospitals. People should go to their nearest health clinic for flu examination,” said Tran Duc Long, communications director at the National Steering Committee for A/H1N1 Prevention.
About 20 laboratories have been established to test samples for A/H1N1 at hospitals throughout the country.
“Good supervision, early detection, isolation and treatment will minimise fatalities,” said Trieu.
The health sector has recommended that people wear face masks and regularly wash their hands in risky environments.
As of yesterday, 55 out of 185 people in a tourist group at the HCM City College for Culture, Arts and Tourism had tested positive for A/H1N1 flu.
In Ha Noi, 23 people have been isolated at a temporary hospital at the Viet Nam Farmer Association’s Staff Training School in Cau Giay district.
Swine flu hits schools
Swine flu continues to spread in HCM City schools. The city’s Department of Health yesterday received reports that more students had tested positive.
They were attending Hoa Binh Private High School in Tan Binh district and Duy Tan Private High School in District 10.
Hoa Binh School closed for a week after finding three out of 41 quarantined students had contracted the disease.
It allowed students who did not have high fever to go home and then disinfected the entire campus.
The Pasteur Institute has also announced that three of nine students quarantined at Duy Tan School have tested positive for A/H1N1 flu, and ordered the school to close.
The health ministry yesterday reported 101 new A/H1N1 cases, the highest number since the first was confirmed on May 31.
Of these, 82 are in the south, five in the north, six in the central region and eight in the Central Highlands.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News