Doctors and nurses on the front lines of Covid-19 prevention and control in Nghe An

Lost 4kg due to the epidemic

February 14 was a day like any other since the Lunar New Year for Dr. Nguyen Trong Di - Deputy Head of the Department of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Nghe An Province Center for Disease Control. In the tense context of preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic, documents - plans - strategies, meetings, training sessions, inspections, epidemiological investigations and classifications, about facilities for collecting samples for testing and bringing suspected infected people to quarantine and treatment areas... kept this doctor occupied, leaving him with no moment to rest. The epidemic had not yet arrived, but Dr. Di had "managed" to lose 4 kg; his beard and hair were already scraggly and messy on his face.

The quarantine area has been set up, ready for the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo courtesy of Tu Thanh

At the Government's online conference on Covid-19 prevention and control in the late morning of February 14, Nghe An received instructions from the Ministry of Health to take samples of 3 drivers and bus assistants in Thai Hoa town to test for the Corona virus. The Nghe An Department of Health requested the working group of the Nghe An Center for Disease Control to immediately set off to carry out the task... At noon of the same day, Doctor Di and the Center's staff enjoyed their "familiar" lunch for the past 2 weeks, including bread and mineral water right in the car.

The sampling of 3 drivers and bus assistants in Thai Hoa town originated from a document containing a lot of false information from the Management Board of Viet Tri Passenger Station (Phu Tho). However, with the motto of "fighting the epidemic like fighting the enemy", the Ministry of Health and the Nghe An Department of Health were not subjective in any situation. The monitoring and sampling in Thai Hoa town by the Nghe An Provincial Center for Disease Control did not go really smoothly. 1/3 of the people who needed to be sampled did not really cooperate when they "made appointments and promised" to meet the group from the afternoon to the evening to make an epidemiological declaration and take samples. Only when the Center informed that they would ask the police to intervene did this person appear to take samples and receive instructions on self-isolation at home.

The sampling work was completed at 1:45 a.m. on February 15, the emotional post Dr. Di posted was filled with emotions.Since Tet, I have not had time for you and Mom, but Dad is always ready to take on any task for the health of the people, and Mom and Dad are always by my side. Thank you, my love....”.

The Tropical Disease Center is a gathering place for countless infectious diseases, and any negligence or lack of care in infection control will cause the disease to spread to the doctors, nurses, patients' relatives and cross-infection between patients. Photo courtesy of Thanh Cuong

Doctor Nguyen Trong Di said: “The nature of the epidemic and work has made me and my colleagues “busy as hell” since the first day of Tet until now. Honestly, in addition to doing ideological work for the people and the community to avoid panic as well as not being subjective about the epidemic, I also have to do ideological work for my wife and family because my husband is away from home, often exposed to the risk of the epidemic. Being exposed to the epidemic regularly, it is not true that we are not afraid, but we understand the disease well so we know how to prevent it for ourselves. However, it must be said that: No one can fully predict the risks. However, when working in the medical profession, doing prevention work, everyone determines the mindset and mentality of doing everything for the health of the community. From that mindset, we always try our best to do the best in disease prevention and control, first of all because of responsibility, and then because of love for the profession...”.

Up to this point, Nghe An has had 18 suspected cases. These cases are scattered throughout the province. With each suspected case, it is a real battle, full of anxiety. Fortunately, up to this point, all 18 cases have been eliminated, the test results are negative. The epidemic control work in the outer ring is being done well, the probability of the epidemic entering Nghe An is very low. However, Covid-19 is still evolving very complicatedly, it is not yet possible to predict when it will end.

The staff of Nghe An Center for Disease Control have been, are and will be "struggling" with all kinds of epidemics... Photo: PV-CTV

Back home at 3am, at 6am, Dr. Di and his colleagues got up to "rinse their mouths" with more than 10 phone calls to grasp and report on the epidemic situation. Now is the Winter-Spring season - the season of a number of respiratory diseases such as influenza A, H1N1, H3N2, seasonal flu and other diseases such as measles, chickenpox, mumps. In addition to Covid-19, the above diseases are also very scary, especially the re-emerging diseases with stronger virulence. The staff of the Nghe An Center for Disease Control have been, are and will be "struggling" with all kinds of epidemics...

Faces marked by masks

At the Tropical Disease Center - Nghe An General Hospital, every day, 13 doctors and 14 nurses still examine about 160 - 220 outpatients and treat about the same number of inpatients. Those patients include people infected with HIV, hepatitis, tetanus, rabies, dengue fever, measles, parasites... Basically, the Tropical Disease Center is a place where countless infectious diseases are gathered, and any negligence or lack of care in infection control will cause the disease to spread to the doctors, nurses, patients' relatives and cross-infection between patients.

Dr. Que Anh Tram - Director of the Tropical Disease Center said: "Facing the risk of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Tropical Disease Center quickly formed 3 quarantine areas, ready to receive patients. Since the beginning of the epidemic season, the Center has received 6 patients suspected of having Covid-19. All patients were taken care of and treated carefully by doctors and nurses, ensuring safety and quick recovery. When asked about memories of taking care of patients suspected of having Covid-19, a doctor at the Center quietly showed a line of emotions posted by a doctor or nurse on social media:“I couldn’t help but feel sad when I saw my colleagues wearing protective clothing throughout the shift, drenched in sweat, their faces marked with masks, not allowed to drink water and not even daring to go to the bathroom during the shift. I also couldn’t help but feel sad when I was happily announcing “congratulations, your Covid-19 test result is negative” and then was immediately slapped in the face with “What a stupid doctor, couldn’t diagnose and only now found out it was negative”?... This doctor also added: "It's sad but I don't blame them because they are sick!"