Hospitals overcrowded by hand-foot-mouth, respiratory disease

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=53022

Last Updated: Friday, October 9, 2009 22:49:09 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Hospitals overcrowded by hand-foot-mouth, respiratory disease

The Respiratory Department at Children?s Hospital No.1 is so crowded that mothers have to care for their children in the corridor.
Hand, foot and mouth has been more severe this year and is flooding hospitals with children, as are respiratory diseases, doctors in Ho Chi Minh City said.

Nearly half of inpatient children at Children?s Hospital No.?s Infection ? Mental Health Department on Friday were hospitalized with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and three of them were assisted with respirators.

Truong Huu Khanh, head of the department, said the department emergency room had received several HFMD children in severe condition for several days straight.

?The children have complications with their nervous, circulatory and respiratory systems, including breathing difficulties and high blood pressure.?

HFMD patients also top the list at the Children?s Hospital No.2, with 55 admitted Friday, including seven in the emergency room.

Tran Thi Thuy, deputy head of the Infection Department at the hospital, said late September and early October was the prime time for HFMD.

Doctors said more children were catching the disease and developing more critical conditions this year than in previous years.

The 80-bed Children?s Hospital 1 was keeping more than 200 respiratory inpatients on Friday.

Tran Anh Tuan, head of the hospital Respiratory Department, said changes in the climate have caused many children under 1 year old to catch pneumonia and bronchitis.

Doctors have also warned about the high threat of dengue fever in children this month.

Le Bich Lien, head of the Dengue Fever Department at Children?s Hospital No.1, said the rate of dengue infections had lost steam this week but could return even stronger, depending on the weather and the effectiveness of prevention measures.

There have been years in which the disease has peaked in November and December, Lien said.

Reported by Thanh Tung

 

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Re: Hospitals overcrowded by hand-foot-mouth, respiratory disease

Source: http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=53130



Last Updated: Thursday, October 15, 2009 22:34:35 Vietnam (GMT+07)

No shortage of Tamiflu, but other diseases ignored


Although H1N1 is spreading widely in Vietnam, the country has abundant stock of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry told a meeting that more than 354,000 capsules of Tamiflu are currently available, and the country is producing more to guarantee there is no shortage of the drug, which is one of the two shown to work well against the influenza A (H1N1) virus.

In the meantime, Vietnam is developing swine flu vaccination regimens specifically for people with high risks like those with chronic diseases, pregnant women, and children, as requested by the World Health Organization (WHO), said Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the ministry?s Preventive Health and Environment Department.

As H1N1 vaccines are now available, WHO plans to send the vaccines? first batches to Vietnam and other developing countries next month under its support program, according to Nguyen Tran Hien, head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

As of Wednesday, 10,124 cases of H1N1 infection and 23 related deaths had been recorded in the country, the ministry reported, adding 9,437 of these have been discharged after full recovery, while others are still under treatment.

In related news, at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on the same day, Le Truong Giang ? deputy director of the city?s health department, criticized local health agencies for focusing on H1N1 combat so much that they ignored other diseases, leading to widespread outbreaks.

For the last several weeks, hospitals in HCMC have admitted hundreds of patients with the hand-foot-mouth disease for a total of 2,080 so far this year, Giang said, noting that disease has claimed five lives so far.

The dengue fever, meanwhile, has killed ten and sickened nearly 10,000 since the beginning of this year, according to HCMC Preventive Health Center.