Vietnam’s success story: Nearly all Covid-19 patients recover

Three COVID-19 patients are discharged from the Hanoi-based National Hospital for Tropical Diseases on June 5. (Photo supplied by the hospital)

By Phong Lan
Dantri Online Newspaper, Vietnam

HANOI: A a remote consultation was held on June 4 with the participation of top doctors from various hospitals in Vietnam to evaluate the health of the British COVID-19 patient who is the most serious case in the country.

The 43-year-old male patient, numbered 91, who has been in critical condition for some time, has made a miraculous recovery recently.

A representative from Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City where the patient is being treated said that he is now in stable health condition and has been disconnected from a life support machine Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for a day.

“His left lung function has recovered by 58 percent compared to 20 days ago when he had just 10 percent of his lung capacity left,” the doctor said.

Addressing the consultation, deputy head of the National Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, Luong Ngoc Khue, said that despite these encouraging signals, the patient is still in severe health conditions and needs more extensive care.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son, who chaired consultation asked local hospitals to co-operate in the preparations for possible lung transplant for the British national when required. He hailed the great efforts of local doctors in curing this case as well as all other patients and called for continued efforts so that Vietnam can win the virus.

This is among various online meetings between doctors of different hospitals nation-wide in Vietnam to discuss serious SARS-CoV-2 infection cases. And at the Thursday meeting, the focus was only on the British patient as most of the other patients have recovered and were discharged from hospitals.

Doctors take care of the British COVID-19 patient at the Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on June 3. (Photo supplied by the hospital)

The only serious Covid-19 patient, a pilot of the Vietnam Airlines, who has been struggling with the diseases for over two months can now drink water from a cup with the support of doctors and smile as medics talk to him.

The news about the patient’s recovery is not only bringing happiness and relief to doctors but all the wide public. People praised doctors’ efforts and wished the patient a speed recovery. Dozens of local people are willing to donate parts of their lungs to save the patient if he needs a lung transplant.

A 40-year-old anonymous woman is among nearly 30 people who have called the Vietnam National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation to register their lung donation for the British patient.

According to the woman, she was a lucky person and had received a lot of help from other people. She wanted to use the donation as a way to express her deep gratitude for what she has.

“And as a Vietnamese citizen, I want to contribute to the fight against the Covid-19, in a hope that no one will have to die from it in our country,” she shared.

This can be a simple example to show how Vietnamese people are supporting the government in the on-going combat against the disease which Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called an enemy.

In an interview with Hanoi-based correspondents of foreign media including US’ Bloomberg, Russia’s TASS news agency and Japan’s NHK TV and Akahata newspaper on May 21, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that early awareness of the pandemic, appropriate, drastic and people-centric measures from the Government as well as public support are behind Vietnam’s success in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Latest updates from the National Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control showed that as of June 6 morning, Vietnam has gone the 51th day in a row without SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in the community. A new infection case, who is a student returning from the UK two days ago, was confirmed, raising the patient tally to 329.

On June 5, five more patients were declared fully recovered, raising the total recoveries in the country to 307, or 93.6 percent, the committee said, adding that most of the remaining patients were in stable condition.

People swim at a beach in Nha Trang City on an early morning in late May

Life has almost returned to normal in Vietnam since the end of April after a three-week social distancing regulation was lifted. People can now be seen going to school, to work, to parties, or on holiday freely without bothering wearing face masks or carrying hand wash sprayers.

And, sharing with foreign media in the interview, PM Phuc confirmed that Vietnam had basically controlled the pandemic, at the same time, maintained the macro economy and moved into a “new normal” state with determination to achieve GDP growth of 4.5-5 per cent in 2020.