Screening and testing for Covid-19 promoted

Learning from the experience that Chau Thanh General Clinic in Thu Dau Mot city was blocked, due to having a patient with Covid-19, provincial Department of Health has encouraged the local hospitals and clinics to set up Covid-19 screening areas for patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection and cases returning from pandemic-hit areas. The local health sector is also promoting Covid-19 testing and screening activities on a large scale in the community to identify high-risk areas.

Setting up Covid-19 screening areas

Provincial General Hospital is thhe only medical facility receiving and treating Covid-19 cases in the province. So far, the hospital has set up and implemented an action plan to respond to the situations of the pandemic. The hospital has strictly made medical declaration, organized a screening area for patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection and cases returning from pandemic-hit areas right from its entrance under the instructions of the Ministry of Health, provincial Department of Health.

Accordingly, the hospital has arranged a separate way for patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection such as fever, cough, runny nose, chest tightness, suspected Covid-19 infection; cases with voluntary medical examination, due to having contact with F0 cases or cases returning from pandemic-hit  areas. This separate way is designed right at the entrance of the hospital together with strictly following the "5K" message of the Ministry of Health: khau trang (face masks), khu khuan (disinfection), khoang cach (distancing), khong tu tap (no gatherings), and khai bao y te (health declarations). For patients  with symptoms of acute respiratory infection or epidemiological factors, medical staff will guide them to the hospital’s separate area for Covid-19 screening.

Provincial General Hospital’s Covid-19 screening area for patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection and cases returning from pandemic-hit areas

At its separate area for Covid-19 screening, the hospital has arranged all specialized examination tables with doctors and nurses who are always on duty to serve patients. Before entering the specialized examination tables, patients pass through a table for screening to re-determine pathological and epidemiological factors for classification. If they have both 2 factors of acute respiratory infection and epidemiology, they will be classified and directly transferred to a separate table for Covid-19 screening which is undertaken by doctors specialized in infectious diseases.

If they are suspected of having with Covid-19 by doctors, they will be transferred to a temporary isolation area at the infectious department by the hospital’s specialized vehicle for RT-PCR test. The hospital’s area for Covid-19 screening has all paraclinical tests. Outside the Covid-19 screening area, patients who have no symptoms of acute respiratory infection or epidemiological risks, are guided to the hospital’s normal medical examination area after making medical declarations and having their body temperature checked.

Dr. Van Quang Tan, Director of provincial General Hospital said that the hospital has well implemented the Ministry of Health ‘s Official Dispatch No. 3088/QD-BYT on promulgating a set of criteria for safe hospitals in prevention and control of Covid-19 and acute respiratory infections; the Ministry of Health’s Official Dispatch No. 5188/QD-BYT on the guidance of the SARS-CoV-2 prevention and control in medical establishments and the instruction of provincial Department of Health. On average, the hospital’s area for Covid-19 screening receives about 100 patients every day. Through the establishment of a Covid-19 screening area, if there is a case of Covid-19 detected, the hospital will easily isolate each area, limiting the spreading of the pandemic in the whole hospital. As of now, the hospital has not detected a positive case for Covid-19. All medical examination and treatment activities at the hospital are safely controlled, helping people feel secure for examination and treatment here.  

Strengthening Covid-19 testing

Covid-19 testing to quickly detect and isolate patients could reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. This is one of  the health sector’s important factors to promptly stamp out the pandemic. According to statistics, related to the province’s 4 outbreaks in Tan Uyen town’s Tan Phuoc Khanh ward; Puku Vietnam Company in Thuan An city’s Binh Hoa ward; Di An city’s Binh Thang ward and E-Home Apartment 4 in Thuan An city’s Vinh Phu ward, the local health sector has carried out extensive testing and screening in the community on a large scale. Specifically, the sector made Covid-19 screening testing for 9,149 people in Tan Uyen town’s Tan Phuoc Khanh ward; 4,088 people at House Wares Company, Trung Kien lodging facility and 2,500 people in the area around Puku Vietnam Company and many other related areas. Since from the beginning of the pandemic, the province has had 28,884 cases taken samples for Covid-19 testing...

In order to screen and detect suspected cases early, health workers went to each household in the medical isolation areas to take samples for testing. This is a solution to screen people at the high risk of Covid-19 infection. If a case is detected with a positive test result for Covid-19, the health sector will promptly isolate and treat, avoiding the spreading of the pandemic in the community.

Regarding Covid-19 testing capacity, Mr. Chuong said that according to the assessment of the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, provincial Center for Disease Prevention-Control and provincial General Hospital are allowed to test for confirmation. The province now has a total of 6 PCR testing machines, comprising of 2 at provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, 1 at provincial General Hospital, 1 Di An city’s Medical Center, 1 at Thuan An city’s Health Center and 1 at Becamex Hospital.

Currently, province-based hospitals are moving to periodically organize Covid-19 tests at random for medical staff in high-risk departments, rooms; those working in screening and isolation areas and for patients in some high-risk departments or patients who are severely affected by Covid-19 infection such as those in departments of emergency, intensive care, infectious diseases...

Reported by Kim Ha-Translated by K.T