HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi MinhCity’s Department of Health has instructed general hospitals to improveemergency aid treatment in an aim to reduce overcrowding at Cho Ray Hospital.

Theseso-called first-category hospitals are health facilities with highlyprofessional staff, specialised departments and modern medical equipment andfacilities.

Thehospitals include Gia Dinh People’s Hospital, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, 115People Hospital and Trung Vuong Hospital, among others.

Thehospitals have been told to develop specialised treatment for serious burns,multiple organ failure and snake bites.

Lastyear, general hospitals were required to set up one ward for treatment ofstroke, as required by the Health Ministry.

Patientswith serious diseases and conditions needing emergency aid are often brought toCho Ray Hospital from province- or district-level hospitals in the city andother southern provinces.

Ata meeting held last week to review medical treatment in the first quarter, DrPham Thi Ngoc Thao, Deputy Director of Cho Ray Hospital, said the hospitaltreated 28,000 patients with emergency aid in the first quarter, including14,455 from the city’s district-level hospitals.

Duringholidays or Lunar New Year (Tet), the hospital’s emergency aiddepartment was overcrowded, Thao said. The department has the capacity toperform 150 surgeries a day, but around 30 patients usually have to waitbecause of overcrowding.

Manyof them wait for up to 12 hours, but still cannot be served, she said, addingthat the risk was too high for some patients.

Ofdistrict-level hospitals, Cu Chi District Hospital has the highest number ofpatients transferred to Cho Ray Hospital, according to the Department of Health.

DrHo Hai Truong Giang, Director of Cu Chi District Hospital, said that patientstaken to Cho Ray Hospital had serious brain injuries or coronary problems thatcannot be treated by doctors at his hospital.

Hesaid that relatives often ask doctors to transfer the patient to Cho RayHospital because they trust the doctors there.

Cho RayHospital’s doctors, however, have told Cu Chi District Hospital not to transferpatients.  

Ina related matter, Deputy Director of the Department of Health, TangChi Thuong, said that HCM City Orthopaedics and Trauma Hospital should developa ward for brain injuries.

Inaddition, hospitals, especially district-level, should co-operate withhigher-level hospitals to carry out emergency aid called Red Alerts to avoidtransfers.

Inthe procedure, emergency ward doctors can evaluate the patient’s condition andthen activate a Red Alert to seek help from doctors at another hospital, hesaid.

Doctorsat Cho Ray Hospital and University Medical Centre are ready to provideassistance for doctors at lower-level hospitals, Thuong said.-VNA