On August 18, Phu Nhuan District's Centre for Diseases Control co-operated with the Ho Chi Minh City Young Doctors Association launched a programme to support Covid-19 patients at home.
According to Doctor Phan Minh Hoang, director of the Hospital for Rehabilitation and Occupational Diseases, who is also head of Ho Chi Minh City Young Doctors Association, there are now 52 health workers including doctors, nurses and technicians participating in the programme. They will be divided into groups to come to help treat patients at their homes.
"After checking on the patients, we’ll provide medicine, instruct them and their family members to take care of them," Doctor Hoang said. "Besides, we also provide psychological advice which is very important to Covid-19 patients."
Nguyen Huynh Hai Dang, chairman of Ward 7 People's Committee in Phu Nhuan District, said that there were 273 Covid-19 patients in the area including 88 being treated at home. "The health workers will provide support to home-treated patients until they recover," she said.
Health workers will regularly visit the patients to give instructions on using drugs and breathing devices and if their condition worsens, they would help send them to hospital.
A patient, Huynh Chi Hung, 64, said that his family of six members have all been infected with SARS-CoV-2 but they had no symptoms so far.
"We’re following instructions from local health workers to take care of ourselves at home," he said. "They give us detailed instructions on our diets, medicine as well as physical exercises so we feel more comfortable."
Ho Ngoc Hieu, 27, has recovered after two weeks of treatment at home with the support and instructions from local health workers.
"I tested positive for Covid-19 on August 2," he said. "The health workers from my ward visited and gave me medicine and advice on self-quarantine and treatment at home. Now I've recovered after over two weeks. I live with five other family members but luckily no one was infected."