Four health centres qualifying for Ebola screening

Vietnam currently has four clinics which are capable for Ebola tests, said Head of the Ministry of Health's (MoH) Preventive Medicine Department, Tran Dac Phu.

They include the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), the Ho Chi Minh-based Pasteur Institute, the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and the Hanoi-based Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

At an October 20 online meeting, Tran Dac Phu said that MoH has developed procedures for Ebola virus screening in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to WHO, by October 17, Ebola had attacked 9,284 people and killed 4,604 of them. Besides the West African countries, one case was reported in Spain and two in the US.

Until now, no infection case of the virus has been detected in Vietnam.

Participants at the event agreed to impose entry restrictions to curtail the spread by requiring medical declarations for passengers from the areas hardest hit by the disease.

MoH will provide training for medical staff in Hanoi, Thua Thien-Hue province and Ho Chi Minh City on receiving, isolating and treating Ebola patients this October.

(Source: VOV)