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Da Nang Weekend had a discussion with Dr. Nguyen Dai Vinh, Director of the Da Nang City Center for Disease Control (CDC Da Nang), about the expectations, challenges, and investment directions of the new preventive health care system.
* Sir, what were the differences in preventive healthcare practices between Da Nang and Quang Nam before the merger?
The biggest challenge for Da Nang (formerly) was the pressure to control the epidemic in a densely populated urban environment, while Quang Nam (formerly) faced challenges due to its vast terrain, dispersed population, and uneven human resources and infrastructure.
* How will merging the two CDCs help strengthen disease prevention and control capabilities, sir?
Firstly, human resources, equipment, and testing facilities will be consolidated, avoiding dispersion and duplication, while improving efficiency. Secondly, when an epidemic occurs, the unit can flexibly coordinate personnel, resources, and medical supplies between localities, responding more quickly and covering a wider area.
Third, a unified command system helps ensure that prevention, vaccination, containment, and community communication strategies are implemented synchronously and consistently, reducing the risk of delays or inconsistencies. Finally, this collaboration also enhances epidemiological surveillance capacity, because instead of two separate agencies, data is now aggregated and analyzed jointly, leading to earlier detection and better control of outbreaks.
The merger helps mobilize common resources, avoid duplication in direction, and increase connectivity in epidemiological surveillance. The new CDC will have the capacity to organize synchronized campaigns, coordinate across regions, and deploy personnel more quickly when outbreaks occur, creating synergy to protect the health of people throughout the region more effectively.
* What are the specific benefits of sharing epidemiological data, improving testing capacity, and providing early warning systems, sir?
The interconnected data system facilitates the rapid detection of outbreaks in border areas, avoiding the "each place has its own system" situation that leads to missed cases or delayed responses. Consolidating laboratories and modern equipment will shorten result delivery times, increase accuracy, and reduce operating costs. Simultaneously, with a shared early warning system, we can analyze disease trends in real time, providing timely recommendations to authorities and the public.
In other words, data and testing are no longer "confined" to individual localities, but have become a shared resource, enabling earlier warning and more effective disease response.
So, in your opinion, what difficulties might arise when building a common backup system for the entire region?
Differences in organizational models, processes, and previous working methods between the two localities may cause confusion in the initial stages of the merger.
Furthermore, disparities in healthcare infrastructure and human resources between urban and mountainous areas can easily lead to difficulties in equitable resource allocation. Another challenge arises from the mindset of healthcare staff when changing work environments and management habits, which also require skillful handling.
However, with retraining plans, standardized procedures, and clear coordination mechanisms, these difficulties can gradually be overcome, turning challenges into opportunities for the regional backup system to operate more effectively.
* Sir, how can we address the shortage of preventive healthcare personnel in mountainous and remote areas?
In my opinion, the shortage of preventive healthcare personnel in mountainous and remote areas is a major challenge, but it can be addressed through a combination of solutions. First, it is necessary to strengthen on-the-job training, encouraging local youth to study preventive healthcare and then return to serve their hometowns. Simultaneously, there should be specific incentive and support policies to attract and retain healthcare workers in difficult areas, ranging from allowances and housing to opportunities for further education and career advancement.
Telemedicine technology should also be utilized to help doctors at higher levels provide professional support to lower-level facilities, reducing the pressure on local human resources. Finally, it is necessary to rationally allocate human resources throughout the region, so that mobile teams can be promptly deployed to support difficult-to-reach areas in the event of an epidemic.
Thus, by combining long-term training with immediate support mechanisms, we will gradually overcome the labor shortage in remote and rural areas.
* Could you elaborate on the CDC's specific plans for establishing an integrated disease surveillance center between Da Nang and Quang Nam?
The CDC may develop a plan to establish an integrated disease surveillance center for both Da Nang and Quang Nam. The focus will be on connecting data from commune and ward health stations to a common system, ensuring that epidemiological information is updated in real time.
This center will simultaneously monitor multiple indicators: cases, vaccinations, vaccine stockpiles, testing, etc., and detect abnormalities early. The system is designed to provide automatic alerts, sending signals to CDC leaders and local authorities as soon as there is a risk of an outbreak. In addition, there are plans to integrate GIS and artificial intelligence technology to analyze trends, simulate spread, and support rapid decision-making.
The ultimate goal is to create a central hub, like a "neural brain," for inter-regional disease surveillance, enabling faster, more coordinated, and more effective responses.
*What are the investment priorities for the coming period, sir?
In the coming period, the CDC has identified several key investment priorities to enhance the preventive health care capacity of the entire region. For testing, this includes upgrading laboratories to meet national standards and expanding molecular biology testing capacity to address a wider range of emerging infectious diseases. Simultaneously, it will build a modern cold storage system for vaccines, managed electronically, to ensure safe storage and synchronized vaccine distribution.
Another key priority is developing an interconnected preventive health data platform that integrates early warning systems and epidemiological trend analysis using artificial intelligence. Simultaneously, focus should be placed on enhancing the capacity of preventive health personnel, particularly in field epidemiology, disease surveillance, and data management.
In other words, we prioritize both "hardware" (equipment, vaccine stockpiles) and "software" (technology, human resources) simultaneously, to ensure the backup system operates effectively and sustainably.
* What changes does he expect the new preventive healthcare system to bring to people across the region?
We expect the new preventive healthcare system to bring about three distinct changes for people across the region. Accordingly, people everywhere, from city centers to remote areas and islands, will have equitable and timely access to preventive services.
Vaccination, testing, and disease prevention information will be more synchronized, transparent, and faster, helping people feel more secure against disease risks. Community trust in the healthcare sector will be strengthened, as the new system operates more uniformly, professionally, and efficiently.
In other words, the ultimate goal is to ensure that all citizens clearly feel safer and better protected by the common backup system.
Thank you for sharing!
Source: https://baodanang.vn/ky-vong-he-thong-y-te-du-phong-moi-3304883.html
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