Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan has asked health departments nationwide to spend 30 per cent of their budgets to prevent epidemic outbreaks of cholera and dengue fever.
Speaking at a workshop held yesterday in HCM City, Huan asked local health departments to spend more funds to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
If an outbreak occurs, officials were asked to report their findings to People's Committees so they could receive timely support from the committee and other departments.
The ministry also asked local health departments to buy more chemicals to keep in reserve to use for disinfectants and more drugs to treat patients if an outbreak occurs.
According to HCM City Pasteur Institute, more than 15,000 patients with dengue fever were discovered in the southern provinces during the first six months of the year, a drop of 44.6 per cent over the same period last year.
Seventeen people died from dengue fever, most of them in the provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Vinh Long.
However, Huan said dengue fever increased in northern and central provinces, especially in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) provinces over the first half of the year.
The number of patients with dengue fever in the central provinces during this period increased by 67 per cent against the same period last year, according to the Preventive Health Department under Ministry of Health.
In the Central Highlands provinces, the number of dengue fever patients rose 300 per cent during the first half of the year.
Source: VNS