 Treatment for a COVID-19 patient (photo provided by the hospital) |
Doctor Tran Thanh Linh, Deputy Director at the COVID-19 Rehab Hospital and Deputy Head of the Resuscitation and Emergency Section of Cho Ray hospital talks with his colleagues about a severe patient, who is having hemofiltration in the intensive care unit. Every day Doctor Ling goes to many wards to check patients’ health, consider treatment methods, and arrange doctors. He provides medical consultation on the phone withother hospitals and transfers severe patients if necessary.
The COVID-19 Rehab Hospital has about 250 beds for patients, including severe patients requiring ECMO and high-flow oxygen therapy. Three COVID-19 ECMO sent from Cho Ray hospital are running at their full capacity. The hospital will set up another 550 beds, including 100 ICU beds and 450 beds for severe patients.
 A medical consultation meeting (photo provided by the hospital) |
Overwhelmed with their workload, the doctors have tried to cover whatever they can. Doctor Linh said: “Doctors can do nursing work, while nurses can work as caregivers. We don’t differentiate who do what. We shoulder with each other. When the alarm sends off alert of a patient, we all run toward the patient to save him.”
Doctor Huynh Quang Dai of the Resuscitation and Emergency Section of Cho Ray hospital said they are under huge pressure with a big number of critical patients. Patient rooms are always full and they have to continuously set up new rooms. Doctors of the Resuscitation and Emergency Section work closely with their colleagues in other wards around the clock to treat an increasing number of hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
"Doctor Linh is head of the Cho Ray hospital’s delegation. He receives hundreds of calls on the medical hotline every day. Comparing to previous pandemic in Quang Nam, Da Nang, and Bac Giang province, the COVID-19 wave in HCMC is much more severe,” said Dai.
Doctor Nguyen Tri Thuc, Director of Cho Ray hospital and the COVID-19 Rehab hospital, said the COVID-19 Rehab hospital has 340 doctors and 1,200 nurses, who have been brought in from Cho Ray hospital, Nhân dân 115 hospital, Nhân dân Gia Định hospital, HCMC Oncology hospital, and medical workers from multiple provinces. Cho Ray hospital has sent its doctors to level-3 COVID-19 hospitals to follow patient’s conditions and transfer severe patients to higher level hospitals if necessary.
Doctor Thuc said since the COVID-19 Rehab hospital was set up, it has received a number of severe patients and hundreds of them have recovered to a mild condition. This is great motivation for the medical staff.
“The key is to prevent the patient’s health from turning worst. Doctors have to try harder. We are determined that no matter how hard we are, we have to treat our patients,” doctor Thuc said.
The Ministry of Health has set up a medical warehouse in the north to mobilize equipment and materials for COVID-19 treatment. The Director of the COVID-19 Rehab hospital has full authority to use equipment from the medical warehouse without consulting the Ministry of Health.