The Ministry of Health provides lifebuoys and medicine to four provinces affected by floods.

The Ministry of Health has requested three pharmaceutical companies to provide rescue equipment and medicine to support relief efforts in the central provinces affected by recent floods.

On October 16th, the Ministry of Health provided support to the Departments of Health in Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, and Thanh Hoa provinces; each province received 200 lifebuoys, 2 life rafts, 50 sets of flood and storm prevention medicines, 100,000 chloramine B disinfectant tablets, and 125 life jackets. The Quang Binh Provincial Department of Health also received an additional 2 tents measuring 16 m2 each.

Many areas in Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces are still heavily flooded after the heavy rains that lasted for the past four days. Photo: Duc Hung.

The Departments of Health in the North Central region and units under the Ministry in this area are implementing medical work to mitigate the consequences of floods and heavy rains.Develop response and recovery plans for heavy rains and storms, and take precautions against major floods, landslides, flash floods, and waterlogging. Health departments should implement plans to protect or relocate medical facilities, ensuring the safety of patients and healthcare workers in low-lying areas and areas at risk of flooding and landslides.

Healthcare facilities are implementing environmental sanitation, food safety and hygiene measures, and communication campaigns to prevent potential outbreaks of diseases after floods, such as dengue fever, diarrhea, and conjunctivitis. They are organizing on-call and emergency response teams, ready to provide emergency care to victims; and establishing mobile emergency response teams that are always ready to assist lower-level facilities.

The heavy rains and floods over the past four days in the central provinces have resulted in 21 deaths and 8 missing people; Quang Binh is the hardest-hit area.While the floodwaters in Central Vietnam have not yet fully receded, forecasts indicate that on October 19th, Typhoon Sarika is likely to directly affect the central region, causing another wave of heavy rain and flooding.

According to VNE