Doctors and nurses at the Da Nang Hospital for Lung Diseases keep an eagle eye on health indicators of eight critically ill Covid-19 patients with comorbidities. 

The intensive care unit (ICU) at the Da Nang Hospital for Lung Diseases was designed and installed in five days with 12 renovated rooms meeting required standards. Central oxygen supply, compressed air systems, ventilators and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines were installed.

All patients are monitored all days and nights on camera. Several medics watch over the patients on the screens to reduce close contact and infection risks.

The hospital, founded in 2005 and located in Da Nang's Lien Chieu District, has 100 beds. Every day, medical staff wear protective clothing and use the stairs to move between floors.

"Patient 416", a 57-year-old man, is the first confirmed Covid-19 case in the nation’s fresh outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that happened in Da Nang. He has been on ECMO support since the evening of July 24, 2020. While he has tested negative for the novel coronavirus three times, his poor health condition has kept doctors wary. He is still dependent on life support and remains on the ECMO machine.

Doctor Hoang Huu Hieu checks the ventilator.

All doctors and other staff wear protective clothes and layers of masks. Their names are written on the back of their gowns to identify them.

All patients in the ICU are critically ill. Before getting infected by the novel coronavirus, they had other underlying conditions like heart failure, kidney failure, diabetes and high blood pressure. Even without the Covid-19 infection, their lives were under threat.

While treating these patients, doctors and nurses also have to take care of their hygiene and change their lying position to prevent bedsores. On sedatives and endotracheal tubes inserted to aid their breathing, patients are asked to move their hands and feet and keep their eyes open so the doctors can check their body reactions.

Nurse Nguyen Van Hai from the ICU in Saigon's Cho Ray Hospital arrived in Da Nang on July 24, and joined the Covid-19 battle immediately. Here, he checks a blood filtering system.

Doctors and nurses use the corridor in the ICU to get administrative work done. They have to stand ready to respond to emergency assistance needs of other local hospitals like the Hoan My Hospital, Da Nang Oncology Hospital and Hoa Vang Field Hospital.

Doctor Tran Thanh Linh (middle) from the Cho Ray Hospital looks at chest X-rays and discusses with colleagues the interventions that patients might need that day or during the course of treatment in the ICU.

Lung damage is a frequently occurring condition among Covid-19 patients. Doctors, therefore, pay special attention to chest X-rays.

Medical technicians not directly taking care of patients are also working around the clock. They work in shifts and conduct Covid-19 tests as quickly and accurately as possible. Currently, 13 Covid-19 patients in the hospital have tested negative.

Doctors and nurses have to maintain regular records of the patient’s health status. They work for around 13 hours per day and can only travel from the hospital to the accommodation assigned to them.

Of the 16 Covid-19 patients in the ICU, eight are using ventilators, two are on ECMO machines, four are having their blood filtered continuously.

Together with 11 colleagues from the southern hospital and other doctors, nurses in Da Nang, doctor Linh has been working around the clock to save the lives of the critically ill patients.

Since the coronavirus resurfaced in Da Nang late last month there have been 405 cases in 15 cities and provinces, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Seventeen patients have died.

Since the pandemic first broke out in the country, Vietnam has recorded 866 cases.

Photo courtesy of doctors and nurses