The recent floods in Khanh Hoa have caused heavy damage to the province’s health sector. In particular, many health facilities were deeply submerged in floodwaters, causing damage to facilities and equipment.
Preliminary estimate of damage to the health sector as of November 25 is about 170 billion VND.
The province has about 25 medical stations and a number of medical centers that were severely damaged, flooded, and had damaged equipment.
Dien Khanh Regional Medical Center had 3 specialized refrigerators and 8 household refrigerators damaged, causing nearly 5,000 doses of vaccine; thousands of syringes, safety boxes and temperature monitoring devices were also swept away or damaged by the flood.
Mr. Le Van Khoa, Director of Khanh Hoa Province Department of Health, said that most of the low-lying commune and ward health stations had damaged machinery, equipment, and vaccines of the Expanded Immunization Program.
The provincial health sector has sent statistics to the Ministry of Health , Nha Trang Pasteur Institute, Department of Disease Prevention, and the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for review and request for urgent resupply of all vaccines for November and December. Regarding the cold chain system and vaccine refrigerators at the facilities that have been damaged, the Department of Health assigned the provincial Center for Disease Control to provide timely support solutions, ensuring that when the vaccines are transferred, they will be promptly vaccinated for children.
Khanh Hoa Health Department is waiting for the vaccine to be distributed. The vaccination time may be later than the previously announced schedule, so people need to follow the local announcement and take their children to get vaccinated.
During this time, the Ministry of Health also assigned the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC) and Nha Trang Pasteur Institute to continue supporting the Khanh Hoa Provincial Health Department in flood prevention and control work during and after the flood.
Accordingly, from November 24 to December 6, IVAC will deploy free injections of purified tetanus antitoxin serum and adsorbed tetanus vaccine for flood victims in Khanh Hoa province and rescue forces.
Mr. Le Van Khoa added that even when there are floods, medical examination and treatment work is still maintained in parallel with the disaster response process.
The health sector has dispatched medical staff and doctors to participate in emergency care and treatment for flood victims; provided free medical examination and treatment to people from flooded areas and coordinated with medical staff and doctors from Ho Chi Minh City to conduct examinations in vulnerable and isolated areas.
Through this flood, we can see the proactive and urgent spirit of the grassroots medical force in providing primary health care for the people, contributing to helping the flood-affected areas quickly stabilize.
For severely damaged medical facilities, the Department of Health requested units to focus on cleaning up, re-arranging temporary examination areas, ensuring first aid and dispensing essential medicines, and supporting family medicine kits for people in flooded areas. In particular, the work of distributing Cloramin B to help people treat the environment after floods was implemented very effectively.
At Khanh Hoa Province Tropical Diseases Hospital, the flood inundated the first floor. Doctors and nurses transported patients to safety. Damage to machinery and facilities is still being counted and repaired.
Since November 24, medical examination and treatment here have been taking place normally. “We mobilized and “borrowed” medicine and supplies from unaffected medical facilities to the affected areas, quickly carrying out examination and treatment. After that, we proceeded to overcome the consequences and purchase additional equipment,” said Dr. Le Van Khoa./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/khanh-hoa-sau-mua-lu-hang-ngan-lieu-vaccine-tiem-chung-mo-rong-bi-hong-post1079888.vnp
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