The Ministry of Health announced yesterday it would triple the daily bonuses for health staff dealing directly with H1N1 after hospitals said they were overwhelmed by the number of patients with the virus.
Each staff would now receive a daily bonus of VND185,000 instead of VND60,000, the ministry said.
In a meeting held yesterday between Ho Chi Minh City hospital representatives and ministry officials, Tran Ngoc Huu, head of the Pasteur Institute in HCMC, said the institute has detected 298 H1N1 cases so far.
With quarantines expanding, the institute has been overwhelmed by the number of tests it has had to perform, often 70 per week recently, said Huu.
He said the city could soon be facing a severe shortage of medical facilities and staff as only his institute and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) in Hanoi were allowed to officially confirm cases of the disease.
Nguyen Tran Chinh, NIHE director, said the institute had detected 170 cases out of 591 people tested.
?We?ve had to work day and night since Influenza A (H1N1) broke in Vietnam and have done more than 1,000 tests,? he said.
Tran Tinh Hien, deputy director of the NIHE, said there had been several cases in which patients showed little response to antiviral drugs oseltamivir or Tamiflu and therefore had to take double doses.
Ly Ngoc Kinh, head of the ministry?s Department of Medical Treatment, said people who showed resistance to the drugs had to remain under hospital supervision for longer periods of time as increased dosages could cause ?unexpected complications.?
Hien suggested that the ministry publish guidelines about treatment methods for hospitals to use.
The ministry confirmed yesterday that Vietnam had recorded 345 H1N1 cases with 299 patients having been already discharged from the hospital.
The estimated time for treatment for one patient is between five to seven days. The ministry has requested stricter supervision at immigration check-points as it?s estimated that between 55 to 56 percent of the suspected patients have been detected there.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=50903
Each staff would now receive a daily bonus of VND185,000 instead of VND60,000, the ministry said.
In a meeting held yesterday between Ho Chi Minh City hospital representatives and ministry officials, Tran Ngoc Huu, head of the Pasteur Institute in HCMC, said the institute has detected 298 H1N1 cases so far.
With quarantines expanding, the institute has been overwhelmed by the number of tests it has had to perform, often 70 per week recently, said Huu.
He said the city could soon be facing a severe shortage of medical facilities and staff as only his institute and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) in Hanoi were allowed to officially confirm cases of the disease.
Nguyen Tran Chinh, NIHE director, said the institute had detected 170 cases out of 591 people tested.
?We?ve had to work day and night since Influenza A (H1N1) broke in Vietnam and have done more than 1,000 tests,? he said.
Tran Tinh Hien, deputy director of the NIHE, said there had been several cases in which patients showed little response to antiviral drugs oseltamivir or Tamiflu and therefore had to take double doses.
Ly Ngoc Kinh, head of the ministry?s Department of Medical Treatment, said people who showed resistance to the drugs had to remain under hospital supervision for longer periods of time as increased dosages could cause ?unexpected complications.?
Hien suggested that the ministry publish guidelines about treatment methods for hospitals to use.
The ministry confirmed yesterday that Vietnam had recorded 345 H1N1 cases with 299 patients having been already discharged from the hospital.
The estimated time for treatment for one patient is between five to seven days. The ministry has requested stricter supervision at immigration check-points as it?s estimated that between 55 to 56 percent of the suspected patients have been detected there.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=50903
