Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Lifestyle/2009/6/72082/
Monday ,Jun 29,2009, Posted at: 17:34(GMT+7)
Swine flu fatigues health workers
The recent rise in swine flu cases has had a knock-on effect, with numbers of district health workers becoming worn out from long hours and stress.
The head of Ho Chi Minh City?s Medical Affairs Office, Phan Van Nghiem, in an interview with Thanh Nien reporter had to interrupt the conversation numerous times to deal with swine flu patients.
A female patient would often phone and inquire whether she would be discharged from the hospital where is quarantined or when she would receive her test results.
Dr. Nghiem comforted her and told her not to worry so much and wait for the tests, as she would spread the flu virus if she went home. She would then ring again a few minutes later.
Similarly, on hearing her 80 year old father was very sick in the central province of Binh Thuan, an overseas woman left her 18 month old toddler in Australia to return Vietnam.
Her relatives hired a car to drive from Binh Thuan to Ho Chi Minh City to take her home, where they waited at the airport until the last passengers left. They were then informed that she had been quarantined because she suffered from a high fever.
Mistaking the reporter for a doctor, the woman insisted they let her out of the hospital because she felt healthy.
She said she has nine day leaves; she had spent two days travelling from Australia to Vietnam, three days in quarantine and has only four days left, but does not even know if she can meet her father in her four remaining days.
In another stressful case, two unnamed brothers returned to Vietnam from the US on the same flight as an infected Vietnamese person.
When they ended there leave in Vietnam and about to return to the US, they were kept in quarantine as they presented some symptoms of the disease before their plane took off.
They tried to put pressure on medical workers, saying that if they arrived home in the US late, who would take responsibility if they got fired.
Dr. Nghiem said that the situation had become so stressful he had to ask for a decision from his director, and then call for instructions from the Ministry of Health and the city?s People?s Committee.
Only when the plane took off did the two brothers finally accept to go to the hospital for tests.
Next day, while they were waiting for test results, their relatives threatened to sue if they lost their jobs. Luckily their results proved negative.
Dr. Nghiem ordered airline tickets for them at 1AM.
Not only do they have to resolve such difficult situations, medical workers must also answer phones ceaselessly, with 150 conversations being had daily.
Some people are anxious because they have little time for their relatives in Vietnam so they become angry; however, they all ultimately cooperate with medical workers after understanding that medics are carrying out their work on behalf of the community, Dr Nghiem added
Since the outbreak of swine flu in Vietnam, while people are asleep, doctors, flu experts, and biological graduates at the city?s Tropical Disease Hospital are still working hard to trace the flu virus.
The team is assigned to analyze the virus and work out a diagnosing procedure.
All work is carried out with determination and carefulness.
Samples of suspected cases are put under the microscope. They are then reviewed three times, with cases of the flu increasing day-by-day, scientists are working around the clock to check 40-50 samples a day.
Subsequently, they must take night shifts to finish the work.
A moving story was told by a team leader at a hospital?s testing center, Tran Minh Thanh, about his colleague.
The colleague still works despite being pregnant and the possibility of being infected by the virus, but she wants to share her colleagues? burden.
Source; Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre - Translated by Anh Quan
Monday ,Jun 29,2009, Posted at: 17:34(GMT+7)
Swine flu fatigues health workers
The recent rise in swine flu cases has had a knock-on effect, with numbers of district health workers becoming worn out from long hours and stress.
The head of Ho Chi Minh City?s Medical Affairs Office, Phan Van Nghiem, in an interview with Thanh Nien reporter had to interrupt the conversation numerous times to deal with swine flu patients.
A female patient would often phone and inquire whether she would be discharged from the hospital where is quarantined or when she would receive her test results.
Dr. Nghiem comforted her and told her not to worry so much and wait for the tests, as she would spread the flu virus if she went home. She would then ring again a few minutes later.
Similarly, on hearing her 80 year old father was very sick in the central province of Binh Thuan, an overseas woman left her 18 month old toddler in Australia to return Vietnam.
Her relatives hired a car to drive from Binh Thuan to Ho Chi Minh City to take her home, where they waited at the airport until the last passengers left. They were then informed that she had been quarantined because she suffered from a high fever.
Mistaking the reporter for a doctor, the woman insisted they let her out of the hospital because she felt healthy.
She said she has nine day leaves; she had spent two days travelling from Australia to Vietnam, three days in quarantine and has only four days left, but does not even know if she can meet her father in her four remaining days.
In another stressful case, two unnamed brothers returned to Vietnam from the US on the same flight as an infected Vietnamese person.
When they ended there leave in Vietnam and about to return to the US, they were kept in quarantine as they presented some symptoms of the disease before their plane took off.
They tried to put pressure on medical workers, saying that if they arrived home in the US late, who would take responsibility if they got fired.
Dr. Nghiem said that the situation had become so stressful he had to ask for a decision from his director, and then call for instructions from the Ministry of Health and the city?s People?s Committee.
Only when the plane took off did the two brothers finally accept to go to the hospital for tests.
Next day, while they were waiting for test results, their relatives threatened to sue if they lost their jobs. Luckily their results proved negative.
Dr. Nghiem ordered airline tickets for them at 1AM.
Not only do they have to resolve such difficult situations, medical workers must also answer phones ceaselessly, with 150 conversations being had daily.
Some people are anxious because they have little time for their relatives in Vietnam so they become angry; however, they all ultimately cooperate with medical workers after understanding that medics are carrying out their work on behalf of the community, Dr Nghiem added
Since the outbreak of swine flu in Vietnam, while people are asleep, doctors, flu experts, and biological graduates at the city?s Tropical Disease Hospital are still working hard to trace the flu virus.
The team is assigned to analyze the virus and work out a diagnosing procedure.
All work is carried out with determination and carefulness.
Samples of suspected cases are put under the microscope. They are then reviewed three times, with cases of the flu increasing day-by-day, scientists are working around the clock to check 40-50 samples a day.
Subsequently, they must take night shifts to finish the work.
A moving story was told by a team leader at a hospital?s testing center, Tran Minh Thanh, about his colleague.
The colleague still works despite being pregnant and the possibility of being infected by the virus, but she wants to share her colleagues? burden.
Source; Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre - Translated by Anh Quan