The whole political system is trying its best to make Thua Thien Hue safe, especially for the doctors, who are at the front lines of the fight against the pandemic. They are both directly participating in the fight against coronavirus, and providing treatment in medical facilities; every task has to be completed.
Prof. Dr. Pham Nhu Hiep, Director of Hue Central Hospital. Photo: PHAN THANH
Talking with Thua Thien Hue Weekly, Prof. Pham Nhu Hiep, Director of Hue Central Hospital shared about the responsibilities that Hue Central Hospital was taking to "share the burden" during the fight against the pandemic over the past time ...
Achieving two goals
Doctors and nurses are making their best efforts to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, with the current situation, could you sketch a "picture" of the fight against the pandemic at Hue Central Hospital for readers and people to know better?
Now, Hue Central Hospital has to finish two tasks, that is to support Da Nang, Quang Nam and Quang Tri in treating patients with severe COVID-19, and, at the same time, to maintain the service of medical examination and treatment for Thua Thien Hue people and others from the central provinces. Therefore, there are many difficulties in screening, isolating, and running tests. Even though we are treating COVID-19 patients, we are also doing our best to prevent COVID-19 from entering the hospital.
Collecting samples from people at high risk of COVID-19 infection to perform PCR tests. Photo: THU THUY
During the second wave of the pandemic, Da Nang confirmed more than 500 patients positive for COVID-19, which were many times higher than the number of patients staying at Hue Central Hospital for medical treatment. However, in the early stage, most of the severe patients were transferred to Hue Central Hospital to receive treatment.
On the other hand, Hue Central Hospital also indirectly supports treating severe cases not having COVID-19 transferred from other hospitals, so that they can focus on pandemic prevention.
Hue Central Hospital also conducts tests for COVID-19 to support other provinces such as Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Da Nang ...
Is there any difference compared to the first wave of the pandemic at the beginning of this year? Are there any difficulties in the treatment for patients, Professor?
During the first wave of the pandemic at the beginning of this year, we only received patients who were infected from abroad, into Hue. The majority of patients did not have any underlying diseases or relatively mild ones, making it easier to cure the patients.
This time, Hue Central Hospital received patients from resuscitation areas, dialysis unit in Da Nang and very severe patients from other places. Many patients had serious diseases, so the treatment was much more difficult, asking for a large number of qualified doctors to provide medical treatment.
"Feeling sorry for the patients"
Up to now, in Vietnam, there have been deaths recorded, some of them were in Hue. Did you feel worried as this did not appear in the previous wave of the pandemic?
Sincerely sorry! Of course, they were very severe patients, with underlying diseases, such as kidney failure, heart failure, multi-organ failure ... so it was very difficult to save their lives. When the patients passed away, everyone was sad, but keeping in mind that we had to try our best to minimize the number of deaths.
Prof. Dr. Pham Nhu Hiep, Director of Hue Central Hospital briefed doctors at the Center of Isolation and Treatment for COVID-19 Patients. Photo: provided by the Hospital
In our profession, as doctors, we always have to witness patients pass away, but when a patient with COVID-19 dies, I feel regretful, if only the patient was discovered, intervened earlier; if only I could do this, that, and that ... we could have saved the patient. Beside feeling regretful, I also feel guilty.
Protecting people’s health is the most important responsibility in the present time for nurses and doctors, could you share about the intensity of work as well as the hard work of doctors at Hue Central Hospital in the past time, Professor?
All the time we had to stay in the isolation zone, and that was really hard. When putting on a protective suit, the pressure was tremendous, because there was a high risk of being infected.
The patient rooms in the isolation area of Hue Central Hospital are eqquiped with air-conditioners, but treatment of COVID-19 required no use of them, thus, when working in such condition, doctors had to suffer from heat and tiredness in the summer.
Therefore, we arranged each work shift in the treatment and testing COVID-19 areas lasting in 6 hours (previously 8 hours) to reduce the pressure on the medical team of Hue Central Hospital. In addition, we also arranged a clean, airy private room in this isolation area with sofa for medical staff to have a rest when getting tired, and then they could continue working without having to change clothes when leaving the isolation area.
Reduce the burden on localities suffering from the pandemic
The whole country is working towards the same goal of fighting against the COVID - 19 epidemic; Hue Central Hospital has shared the “love” with the provinces and cities which are the focal point of the pandemic. Could you share about this?
"Love" - Of course, but it is also the responsibility of Hue Central Hospital, we must be willing to share the burden with epidemic areas.
Currently, Hue Central Hospital is treating very serious patients from Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Tri. In addition, we also perform PCR tests for citizens of Thua Thien Hue province and others having pandemics, from March to now, with over 20,000 test samples.
In our minds, it’s simple that when we do something more, we would help our colleagues in the pandemic area. This makes it easier for them to focus on the goal of fighting against COVID-19.
Hue Central Hospital is a prestigious medical examination and treatment address in the Central - Central Highland regions. In the near future, what plans will the hospital have to prevent the pandemic and to help neighboring provinces and cities?
We will continue to perform 2 tasks; the first one is to prevent the pandemic in the province. Accordingly, we have to ensure the most effective treatment, screening and testing, and resolutely let COVID-19 not enter the hospital. Then, it will be safe for patients from other cities to come for medical examination and treatment at Hue Central Hospital.
In addition, with the testing capacity of Hue Central Hospital, it is possible to perform about 1,000-1,500 tests per day, so we can support other provinces in the region.
We will organize training courses for hospitals in the Central - the Central Highland regions on mechanical ventilation, resuscitation, rehabilitation, nutrition, infection control, laboratory test ..., contributing to the fight against the pandemic.
Thank you Professor!
By Le Tho-Thu Thuy