Medical staff at many hospitals around the country have been creative in fabricating automatic devices as they take care of an increasing number of COVID-19 patients.

On March 16, the Department of Health organises a drill for admitting COVID-19 patients
at the second specialised hospital in HCM City for the pandemic, Can Gio Health Centre.
(Source http://www.medinet.hochiminhcity.gov.vn)

Employees of Thong Nhat Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh district make automatic hand sanitiser dispensers for their patients.

They took the design from Vi Thanh Health Centre in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, which the hospital’s staff and managers visited recently, and made some modifications to it.

Hue Central Hospital in the central province of Thua Thien- Hue has fabricated an automatic vehicle to carry food and medicines to COVID-19 patients.

It was made by the hospital’s director, Pham Nhu Hiep, and Huynh Phuc Minh, head of the room service management division.

They made it by modifying a remotely operated electric car for kids and putting a small container on it.

It means the staff do not need to take food and medicines to COVID-19 patients, which provides the double benefit of protecting them and easing their workload.

As of March 14 four patients with COVID-19 were being treated at the hospital.

Staff at HCM City’s District 11 Hospital borrowed sewing machines and bought materials such as anti-bacterial and waterproof cloth and thread to sew masks because of a shortage of medical masks in the market.

In four weeks, they had sewn more than 8,000 masks to be stored in the warehouse, according to the hospital.

Since lLast month, health workers at Tu Du Hospital in HCM City have been working during their noon break to make masks. They will soon start making activated carbon masks for staff who handle test samples.

One more hospital for COVID-19 treatment has been opened in the city, the Can Gio Health Centre. The first was a field hospital in Cu Chi district.

On March 16 the department organised a COVID-19 patient admission drill at the new hospital. Ten isolated negative-pressure rooms to prevent cross-contamination have been set up.

These specialised hospitals will help reduce the load on the Hospital of Tropical Diseases and prevent cross-contamination, according to the city Department of Health.

Speaking at a meeting between the city steering board for COVID-19 prevention and control held March 16, Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said the Department of Health should teach people in quarantine how to prevent cross-contamination.   

The city has 25,000 beds in quarantine and plans to use one more military facility to isolate suspected victims from the south-eastern region and also several hotels.

So far at least five hotels had agreed, Phong said.