The new year just began and ended quickly because of the celebratory glasses of wine.

Beside the hurried footsteps of doctors and nurses, the sound of ambulance sirens when a patient is brought in, the worried eyes, the sobs of families whose loved ones are being treated in the emergency room... there is only a single peach tree neatly displayed next to the reception desk to let people know that Tet is present.

Heartbreaking New Year's Eve in the emergency room

Standing with red eyes in front of the emergency operating room of the Internal Medicine Department of Viet Duc Hospital is Ms. Do Thi Minh Hoa (34 years old, Vinh Tuy ward, Hai Ba Trung district). On the operating table in the room is her husband, Mr. Tran Dang Quang.

On the morning of the first day of Tet, Mr. Quang and his cousins ​​had their first meal of the year. After a few glasses of wine, the couple got in the car to go to their maternal grandparents' house to wish them a happy new year. Despite his wife's advice, the 36-year-old man insisted on riding his motorbike by himself.

Carrying two children and chasing her husband's car, Ms. Hoa was stunned when she saw her husband crash into a taxi on Truong Dinh street.

The doctor informed that the victim had a ruptured kidney, liver, pancreas, and small intestines that were all crushed and had to be removed by surgery. While crying and leaning on her sister, Ms. Hoa looked reproachfully at the relatives who had repeatedly forced her husband to "drink another cup" this morning during the New Year's Eve meal. The men still smelled of alcohol and cigarettes, their heads bowed. They all hoped that their brother would survive when he left that cold door.

Not as lucky as Ms. Hoa's family because even though her husband had an accident, the doctors were still able to save him, Ms. Tran Thi Minh (53 years old, Ban town, Hung Yen) cried at the door of the Emergency Resuscitation room when the doctors advised her to take her son home because his condition was too serious.

Duy, 17 years old, her youngest son, after a New Year's Eve dinner with friends, on his way to karaoke, crashed into a road divider. The accident left the young man with a traumatic brain injury. When he was taken to the emergency room, Duy still reeked of alcohol.

After giving birth to three daughters, at the age of 36, Mrs. Minh gave birth to Duy. Not wanting to believe what the doctors said, the patient’s mother sobbed and begged the medical staff to try to save her child.

At that time, the boy's friends, around 17-18 years old, were lying unconscious, some standing, some sitting, some with red eyes, not yet awake after the drinking party on New Year's Eve.

The first day of the year of the Dog had not yet ended, but Mrs. Minh's joy and excitement in the new year had not yet begun and had quickly ended with her son's glasses of wine.

Doctors work through Tet

During the first and last days of the year, when everyone enjoys the longest holiday of the year, gathering with their families, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Tu (born in 1983, residing in Tan Ap, Ba Dinh) enters the peak working period.

Mr. Tu has worked for 5 years in the transport team of the Emergency Department of Viet Duc Hospital, with the main job of driving an ambulance, transporting emergency patients, directly participating in rescue, and assisting doctors and nurses in emergency cases. For everyone, celebrating Tet with relatives is normal, but the New Year's Eve meal, or the first meal of the year to worship ancestors is a luxury for those working in the hospital because the number of accident victims requiring emergency treatment during these days is always much higher than normal days.

On a normal day, the number of emergency cases is about 100, but on the 28th of Tet there were 150 people, on the 29th there were nearly 500 cases, on the 30th of Tet there were about 450 cases.

Data at Viet Duc Hospital

"Not only me, but the doctors, nurses, logistics, hotline... of Viet Duc Hospital are all on duty 24/7, ready to receive patients like usual days," said Mr. Tu. This year, his shift is continuous from the afternoon of the 30th until the morning of the 1st.

Sharing the same sentiment as the ambulance driver, Dr. Bui Trung Nghia (General Planning Department, Viet Duc Hospital) said that the number of emergency cases due to traffic accidents during the Tet holidays increased dramatically, causing there to be no more ventilators to serve the patients. The emergency operating room these days has to perform an average of 30-40 surgeries.

"In addition to 7 fixed operating tables, we have organized additional rotating operating tables to meet the needs of emergency patient treatment. The hospital also connects with other major hospitals in the city such as E Hospital, Saint Paul, Thanh Nhan so that in case of emergency, we can transfer some patients," said Dr. Nghia. Since the 28th of Tet, Viet Duc Hospital has mobilized maximum emergency personnel, ensuring that no patient lacks equipment in the first days of the new year.

Also working through Tet, Dr. Le Hong Nhan, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery, shared about cases of patients hospitalized due to traffic accidents caused by drinking and driving just a few hours after the New Year of the Dog.

On a normal day, the number of emergency cases is about 100, but on the 28th of Tet there were 150, on the 29th there were almost 500, yesterday (30th of Tet) there were about 450. Most of them came here due to traffic accidents, mainly traumatic brain injuries. Those who were detained were all in very serious condition.

Dr. Nhan sighed as he told the story of a patient who was admitted to the emergency room with a severely damaged heart. The reason was that he was drunk and his friends provoked him so he stabbed himself in the heart with a knife.

"We had to add more operating rooms and more doctors. On New Year's Eve alone, nearly 400 people were on duty. Everyone was working hard day and night," said Dr. Nhan.

Doctor Tran Dinh Giang, Director of Viet Duc Hospital, announced that by the morning of the first day of Tet, the hospital had received nearly 130 emergency cases. Of these, about 60 were traffic accident cases, with 80% of them having traumatic brain injuries. 12 cases were deemed incurable, and their families asked them to go home.