Hanoi Covid-19 patients seek for online treatment advice
As the number of Covid-19 patients soars in Hanoi, many residents have been unable to get instructions and medicine from local authorities as regulated.
Covid-19 patients receive medicine at home in Hanoi. Illustrative photo
After the three-day New Year Holiday, Dinh Quoc Trieu felt tired and had a fever. He bought a Covid-19 quick testing kit for self-testing and the results came positive. He called for RT-PCR test service at home which then confirmed his virus infection.
The 25-year-old man who lives in a central district of Hanoi called the district's health department to get instructions and medicine and a staff member there told him to call his ward's health department.
After dozens of failed calls to the ward's number due to busy lines, he finally reached a health worker who said that she would note down his information and inform the district's department, and would contact him later.
While waiting for instructions and medicine from ward's healthcare authorities, Trieu's condition worsened with higher temperatures, rising tiredness and more coughs. After more failing calls to the ward's healthcare authorities, he managed to get support from a doctor group who gave instructions and prescriptions online.
Trieu has improved after four days and still hasn't received any feedback from his ward authorities.
“I managed to treat myself at home by using multivitamins, some medicine, drinking more water and eating more fruits and nutritious food following advice from some doctors I found online,” he said. “Fortunately, my condition was not so bad and I've recovered from the disease quickly.”
Tran Thi Thuong and her husband also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on January 1. They self-isolated at home and tried to call the local healthcare department for support but were just told to wait. They then turned to some groups providing support for Covid-19 patients online and received advice immediately.
Thuong, however, expressed sympathy for local authorities, saying that the slow response was due to being overloaded.
As the number of Covid-19 patients soars in many districts in the capital, many residents haven't been able to get instructions and medicine from local authorities as regulated.
A report from the Hanoi Health Department showed that as of January 7, the city had over 38,000 Covid-19 patients including over 27,000 being treated at home.
Speaking to Dantri/Dtinews, director of the health department at a local district admitted that they were slow in providing support to Covid-19 patients due to the sharp rise in the number of infections.
“We have only between 7-8 staff members at each ward's health department who have been too busy with the vaccination work” he explained. “Luckily more patients are only having mild symptoms and quickly getting over the infection after having the vaccine. We’re asking for support from volunteers to provide better care for local patients.”
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