HCM City (VNA) - Adengue patient who was recently brought from the Mekong Delta province of DongThap to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Tropical Diseases went into shock inthe ambulance.

When the vehicle reached the hospital after a drive of severalhours, doctors said it was too late to save the victim, Dr Nguyen Van Vinh Chau,Director of the HCM City Hospital of Tropical Diseases, told a workshopon July 20 in HCM City on improving prevention and treatment of dengue fever.

The patient was one of three to die while being “unsafely” broughtfrom their local hospitals to the HCM City Hospital of Tropical Diseases, he said.

“In such cases, doctors at the local hospital should not sendpatients with severe dengue to the HCM City Hospital of Tropical Diseases. Theyshould instead call our hospital’s hotline to get advice on how they shouldtreat.”

The hospital would guide them and send doctors to the hospital inquestion to help treat the patient, and this would help reduce the deathscaused by dengue, he said.

Dr Hoang Van Tuyet, vice director of the National Hospital ofTropical Diseases in Hanoi, said similarly two patients had died on the way tohis hospital.

Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy head of the Ministry of Health’s MedicalExamination and Treatment Department, said the ministry would instruct healthdepartments around the country to regulate such transfers between hospitals.

The National Hospital of Tropical Diseases should set up a hotlinefor hospitals in Hanoi and the northern region to provide professionalassistance, he said.

Hospitals should also follow the ministry’s guidelines ondiagnosis, treatment and emergency aid for dengue patients to reducefatalities, he said.

One 19-year-old patient was diagnosed with the disease but nottreated based on the guidelines, leading to shock and death, he added.

♔[Hospitals urged to improve dengue fever treatment]

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long warned that thedisease would see an upward trend in the next few months.

More and more people would probably contract it and hospitals haveto improve their capacity to treat it, he said.

They should take the initiative and call higher-level hospitalsthat have experience in treating it - such as paediatrics and tropical diseaseshospitals – for professional advice before deciding to transfer their patientsthere, he said.

Tran Dac Phu, head of the ministry’s Preventive Health Department,said 57,492 cases of dengue have been reported in the country this year, 9.7 percenthigher year-on-year. Fifteen patients have died, Phu said.

HCM City, Hanoi, Da Nang and the provinces of Binh Duong, KhanhHoa, An Giang, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, Soc Trang, and Tien Giang have reported thehighest number of cases.

Dr Phung Duc Nhat, deputy head of HCM City Institute of Hygieneand Public Health, said usually heavy rains start in May, leading to denguefever breaking out in July and lasting until October.

“However, there were many heavy showers in February this year, sothe incidence of dengue has increased since May,” he added.-VNA