Hanoi sets up centre for disease control

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung has approved the establishment of a centre for disease control based on the restructuring of the Centre for Preventive Medicine in Hanoi.- Photo anninhthudo.vn

Under the decision, the Centre for Preventive Medicine will be renamed as Hanoi Centre for Disease Control (Hanoi CDC) and have a total of 540 staff members. The Hanoi CDC, under the direct control of the municipal Department of Health, will provide counselling and organise activities on disease prevention and health risk reduction. The centre is also tasked with managing community health. Earlier, the Centre for Preventive Medicine was re-organised with the merger of nine units of the city’s preventive medicine system. In addition, the reproductive health care centre at the Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital was moved to the Hanoi CDC. Meanwhile, the division for medicine and cosmetics testing in the former Centre for Preventive Medicine was separated from the centre and upgraded to the municipal centre for medicine, cosmetics and food testing.

Measles risks

Hanoi has recorded 290 cases of measles so far this year. Experts are concerned about the risks of a widening disease outbreak, the Vietnam News Agency reports.

The National Hospital of Tropical Diseases is treating three child patients, including a set of twins with severe measles infections.

On Wednesday, Bui Vu Huy, head of the hospital’s Department of Pediatrics, said that after five days of treatment, the twins’ condition showed no improvement.

From the beginning of this year, the department has received 34 cases of measles, up to eight patients a month.

Hospitalised patients are mostly under 5 years old (69 per cent) and unvaccinated.

The disease is rapidly spreading in Hanoi, mainly in urban districts of Dong Da, Ha Dong, Hoang Mai and Bac Tu Liem.

According to doctors, this year has seen more severe cases compared to previous years as many child patients have been hospitalised with complications of pneumonia and respiratory failure.