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Posts Tagged ‘health’

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Japan supports better health care model for mothers, children

In Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 at 4:24 am

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MOH) signed off on a project to support heath care for mothers and children on December 27 in Hanoi.

Representatives of JICA and MOH sign off on a project to support heath care for mothers and children on December 27 in Hanoi( Photo: Courtesy of JICA)

Maternal and Child Health Handbook – a Japanese adapted health care project will be carried out next year in the northern provinces of Dien Bien, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, and the Mekong delta province of An Giang.


The project will last for 3 years, starting from January 2011, with total budget of 154 million Japanese Yen (equivalent to US$1.8 million) which will provided by JICA.


Maternal and Child Health Handbook is a comprehensive instruction manual with essential information about the physical and intellectual development of children, from the fetus up to 6 years old.


The handbook is convenient for use and storage, as it replaces existing notebooks and health monitoring graphs, and serves as a continuing record on the health condition of both mother and child.


Mr. Tsuno Motonori, Chief Representative of JICA shared “By using the handbook, women are much less likely to miss their regular checkups. The handbooks help mothers provide accurate information, about the child’s development and vaccination records, for doctors and even schools when necessary”


In Japan the MCH Handbook was developed and used in 1942 under the name of ‘Maternal Handbook’, it became a tool in the hands of every mother to ensure the baby’s health. In 1950s, the infant mortality rate in Japan was 60.1 per 1000 live births, while the ratio in 2002 was 3.0 – one of the lowest in the world. Whereas, the infant mortality rate in Vietnam is 15.0 per 1,000 live births (statistical data from 2008).


Based on Japanese experience, MOH have drafted the Maternal and Child Health handbook, covering four parts: the monitoring of mothers during pregnancy, taking care of mother and child during delivery and after delivery, and taking care of the child until 6 years old.


The JICA project is going to conduct training activities to health staff on the contents, ways of usage and distribution to pregnant women, families with small children, village health workers and volunteers. The most important activity is to promote the utilization of the book at community health centers from antenatal check up, at birth, post partum, neonatal and child health.


After piloting at the four provinces, the Ministry of Health will have a plan for distributing the Handbook nationwide, contributing and improving the health condition of both mother and child, and achieving Millennium Development Goals, as committed by the Government of Vietnam.

Source: SGGP

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Catering plants pose health risks

In Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 at 4:23 am

Hundreds of people are hospitalized each year due to food poisoning. This is after eating meals supplied by some catering enterprises.

Dirty kitchen of Minh Tam in district 3. Cases of food poisoining have increased due to unhygienic catering plants ( Photo: SGGP)

Health authorities on January 4 inspected the catering plant of Minh Trang in the district of Tan Binh, Ho Chi Minh City. Inspectors discovered that the catering facility had a number of heath issues concerning hygiene.


These included dirty floors, the cutting boards for meat placed to close to toilets, and dirty and unhygienic cooking containers.


In addition, the inspectors found that some food items expiry date had passed, and other food items have dubious origins. These were six packages of floor and soy sauce containers.


Furthermore, the inspectors also discovered the catering plant had kept the additives and spices maintained incorrectly; therefore, the inspectors ordered the plant to destroy expired flour and the inspectors took the spices for further testing.


In the area of Minh Tam in District 3, a caterer had dirty kitchens, which attracted many flies and other insects. Inspectors found at the premises, contaminated meat and red coloring spices, that failed to meet hygiene regulations. Therefore, they decided to close the business down and seized the unsafe food.


Health authorities admitted that they were unable to check all food catering facilities, because of a shortage of personnel. Therefore, new cases of food poisoning are being reported each day.


Huynh Le Thai Hoa, head of the municipal Health Department’s Food Hygiene and Safety Division, said some caterers prepared their meals too close to drainages areas and the cooking equipment used is unhygienic.

Source: SGGP

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Health insurance card holders still annoyed by waiting for turns

In Uncategorized on October 14, 2010 at 6:23 pm

Most concerns of health insurance card holders, especially the elder, at state hospitals are that it took hours to see doctors.


At 6 Am everyday, the ward for insurance health examination of Nguyen Tri Phuong hospital in Ho Chi Minh City’s district 5 is not open but patients throng the lobbies and benches around the ward.

Patients wait for seeing doctors at the 115 Hospital (Photo: SGGP)

Moreover, the number of waiting patients for their turns to see doctors on the electronic board is 2,000.  Ms Le Thi Kim Thuy in suburban district Binh Chanh said she had to get up at 4 Am, but she had 2118 number in hand.


Meanwhile another patient in district 7 complained that it took him two hours to able to see doctors but a doctor just had a quick look and asked him to pay money for heart rate monitoring and heart scan. He ought to seek these rooms to have his heart monitored and scanned.


The situation is the same in other public medical clinics. A crowd of patients lie down or sit in every corner and available space in the city-based Traumatic Orthopedic Hospital and People’s 115 Hospital.


In a meeting to review one year implementation of new health insurance law which comes into effect on July 1, 2009, Bui Minh Dong, deputy chief of the city Society Insurance Company said more over 4 million people joined health insurance, 40 percent higher than the time before the new law taking effect but only a few hospitals have applied IT in management of patients practically.


In addition, facilities of some district medical clinics in poor repair can’t satisfy increasing demands as Dr. Tran Thanh My, director of the Traumatic Orthopedic Hospital complained.


Dr. Nguyen Dai Bien, head of the Examination Ward of the People’s 115 Hospital, said it takes a long time find rooms patients need, nurses are assigned to lead patients to exact rooms; however, it is big efforts of the hospital because it serenely lacks personnel and  financial problems.


Moreover, some hospitals want to raise staffs’ monthly earning by encouraging patients to use additional services. Anyone wants to see doctors soon, they should pay additional sum of VND47,000.


It is needed to work out a saving-time examination process.

Source: SGGP

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Medical workers raise quality of treatment, healthcare through movements: Health Minister

In Uncategorized on October 14, 2010 at 2:51 pm

Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said medical workers have raised quality of treatment and healthcare through joining actively in movements such as studying and following President Ho Chi Minh’s moral example, good doctors are also nice mothers of patients, doctors and nurses work following Uncle Ho’s teaching.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan and Doan Thi Ngoc Tram, mother of Dang Thuy Tram, a North Vietnamese surgeon, who was killed during a battle in northern South Vietnam in 1970

Mr. Trieu said this at an annual meeting to review movements among medical workers held by the Ministry of Health on Sep 28 in Hanoi.


The highlight of these movements is that epidemic prevention is conducted actively and effectively. Dangerous diseases like cholera, plague and malaria are under control.


Thanks to good vaccination campaign, infectious diseases in kids like measles, diphtheria, whooping cough and Japan encephalitis have reduced by over 10 percent compared to before.


In addition, the project to send doctors of the central hospitals to rural infirmaries to transfer high techniques to their countryside counterparts helped to reduce 30 percent of pressures on city hospitals and improve healthcare quality in distant regions.


Mothers and children healthcare has been better, contributing greatly to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).


Mr. Trieu emphasized the sector will focus on decreasing the rate of patients suffering from diseases and deaths as well as improve gender quality and healthcare system.


Attending the event were Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan and exemplary doctors in the country.

Source: SGGP

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SGGP, doctors conduct charity health checks in city

In Uncategorized on October 14, 2010 at 2:31 pm

Saigon Giai Phong newspaper and a group of Ho Chi Minh City doctors on Sep 19 examined and gave free medications to over 1,000 residents in the city’s Binh Chanh District.

Ninety year old Nguyen Thi Hai (L) in Binh Chanh District receives examination (Photo: SGGP)

The highlight of this time charity work was that residents in communes Phong Phu, Da Phuoc and Quy Duc were examined with hi-tech medical equipments. Medical staffs from hospitals in the city including Cho Ray, People 115, and Pham Ngoc Thach University arrived early to carry machines with high care. It took them one hour to arrange all equipment in vehicles.


Hundreds of people from families prioritized under social welfare policies, war invalids and disadvantaged elderly waited for their turns to see the doctors. The charity group carried out examination in class rooms in Nguyen Van Tran pre-school.


It took one day to cover medical check-up and issued free drugs to nearly 1,000 people, bone density tests to 450 patients, as well as checked cervical cancer to 150 women. The group also gave nearly 200 bags of essential medications to Da Phuoc commune’ Medical Center. 


Tran Trong Tuan, chairman of district Binh Chanh, said three poor communes devoted many martyrs and hero mothers to the country’s war, adding that communes have grown rapidly thanks to the government’s care but they are still poor compared to other areas.


Tuan applauded the newspaper and group of doctors have conducted charity examination and treatment to residents there.

Source: SGGP

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Health official asked to explain his revealing to press

In Uncategorized on October 13, 2010 at 7:49 am

The Ministry of Health ordered a health official to explain for what he told the media about inspection results of Tamiflu scandal, said deputy health minister Trinh Quang Huan at a press briefing in Hanoi on September 21.

The Ministry of Health shoud carefully consider destruction of nearly 10 millioncapsules of Tamiflu to avoid collosal waste (Photo: SGGP)

The Ministry of Health shoud carefully consider destruction of nearly 10 million capsules of Tamiflu to avoid collosal waste (Photo: SGGP)


The ministry’s Legislation Department deputy director Nguyen Huy Quang must write an explanation about his revealing a report on inspection results of Tamiflu scandal to the media when the report was not approved by the Government.


The media released last month the report of Government inspectors who accused the ministry and four local drug makers of wasting financial resources because of overestimating the need for Tamiflu in November 2005.


Mr. Huan said the report had no legal validity because of lacking government approval and ministry’s opinion.


The ministry has ordered the destruction of a controversial reserve of over 9.7 million capsules of Tamiflu while some health experts say it is a waste, suggesting to recycling the drug because Vietnam, one of bird flu-hit countries, has high bird flu cases only after Indonesia.


In addition, avian influenza virus circulation and high load of other flu strains could lead to mutation and a human influenza pandemic. Therefore, the country planned to earmark US$211 million for fighting against pandemic for the period 2011-2015.


 

Source: SGGP

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Health insurance card holders flock to private hospitals

In Uncategorized on August 18, 2010 at 7:27 am

Many patients with health insurance cards in Ho Chi Minh City have turned to private hospitals and health centers instead of public hospitals in search of better services.

A nurse receives patients with health insurance cards at the Hoan My General Hospital, one of the biggest private hospitals in HCMC (Photo: SGGP)

One year after the adjusted health insurance law took effect, the shift seems to be a general trend, going by reports from private healthcare establishments. The new law’s requires patients to pay 5-20 percent of health check and treatment costs.


Observers say that this has eased the overload that public hospitals have for long suffered.


The Phuoc An general medical center, which has six clinics in Phu Nhuan, Binh Tan, Tan Phu, 4, 6, and 10 districts, receives 1,800 people for health checks and treatment every day, 50 percent of them with health insurance cards, double the figure compared to two years ago.


Besides attentive doctors and staff, the center has also equipped itself with new and modern facilities to ensure faster health checks and test results in a move to attract more people with insurance cards.


It has also improved procedures to better serve patients with health insurance cards, including receiving patients outside administrative times on Thursday and Sunday.


The An Sinh private general hospital in Phu Nhuan District has also focused on serving more patients with insurance cards since its inception in 2006.


K. Anh, who has been treated for a kidney ailment at the hospital for the last two years, said she’d suffered from kidney failure for four years now. For the first two years, she was treated at a public hospital in the city. She moved to An Sinh Hospital after they began providing better service to insurance card patients, Anh said.


According to the HCMC Social Insurance Agency, the number of private medical centers and hospitals registering to serve health insurance card holders has risen to 77 from just 23 in 2008.


Half of over 4.2 million people buying health insurance cards have visited private centers and hospitals for health checks and treatment, the agency said.


As the private sector pays more attention to increase their market penetration in terms of serving more health insurance card holders, public hospitals can enjoy an easing of the overload that they constantly labor under.


Some private hospitals have said they are still experiencing some difficulties in getting payment from those with health insurance cards.


For now, however, the private healthcare sector is bound to stick to the strategy of attracting more health insurance card holders because their treatment is provided at market prices, senior personnel at some private hospitals said.

Source: SGGP

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Vietnam must maintain alerts to H1N1 virus: health official

In Uncategorized on August 17, 2010 at 3:22 pm

Vietnam must still maintain its alert for H1N1 influenza virus, which caused the 2009 pandemic in the world, said a health official on August 16.

Deputy head of the Department of Preventive Health Nguyen Van Binh warned the national Health Ministry must keep an eye on the disease as outbreaks of H1N1 infection have recently re-occurred in Ho Chi Minh City.


Mr. Binh said although the World Health Organization declared an end to the H1N1 influenza pandemic and the world is no longer in phase 6 of the pandemic alert. However, WHO stressed continueous vigilance is extremely important and the localized outbreaks of different magnitude may show significant levels of H1N1 transmission.


In Vietnam, since the middle of July, some southern provinces have recorded some H1N1 cases; local governments have raised concerns over the returning of the disease in order to curb the wide spreading of the epidemic in the community.


Vietnam has reported 11,215 infected cases with 59 fatalities since May, 2009.

Source: SGGP

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Capital health, education centres ordered to relocate

In Uncategorized on August 13, 2010 at 3:22 pm




Capital health, education centres ordered to relocate


QĐND – Friday, August 13, 2010, 21:1 (GMT+7)

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has ordered a list of health and education centres that need to be moved out of inner Hanoi.


The order, given as a prelude to implementing the moves, was made at a meeting with the Construction Ministry and Hanoi municipal officials on Aug.11.


Their options are for the health centres and tertiary institutions to be shifted; upgraded or be used for other purposes.


The deputy prime minister said detailed policies for the health centres and tertiary institutions must be thoroughly assessed, especially those dealing with land, finance and investment procedures.


Hanoi has the most central hospitals in northern Vietnam and many are so overloaded they have to work at 200 percent of their capacity.


Four inner-city districts of Hoan Kiem, Dong Da, Hai Ba Trung and Ba Dinh host 16 medical clinics, some of which are located in high-density of residents and carry a high risk of infection.


Others are too small or located in places where urban development is limited.


The number of tertiary institutions in Hanoi city accounts for one-third of the country’s total and 40 percent of the students.


The four districts alone have 26 universities and colleges.


The rate of space for each student at many universities together with the land available for each university is well below the national standard.


Source: VNA/Vietnam+


Source: QDND

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Vietnam launches community health web portal

In Uncategorized on August 12, 2010 at 7:21 pm




Vietnam launches community health web portal


QĐND – Thursday, August 12, 2010, 20:32 (GMT+7)

The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and the Ministry of Health on August 11 launched a portal on community health at vho.vn.


The website aims to popularise knowledge on healthcare, kinds of diseases, medicines, epidemic situation, preventive measures and food hygiene and safety, helping the people raise awareness of disease prevention and treatment.


So far, the site has collected over 14,000 articles, more than 3,000 video files which are classified in subjects and the most popular diseases column.

Source: VNA

Source: QDND