Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen
On the morning of December 15, the city's Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control had a meeting with localities on the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic chaired by Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of HCMC Party Committee, and Duong Anh Duc, Vice Chairman of HCMC People's Committee.
Speaking at the press brief, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen emphasized that the Covid-19 epidemic situation in the world is complicated and must be prevented with the new variant Omicron.
Similarly, Ho Chi Minh City has seen an unstable increase and decrease in cases of Covid-19. However, Ho Chi Minh City can now control the number of cases and deaths.
Nguyen Van Nen acknowledged and highly appreciated the activities of the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control and the districts, the Department of Health, the Ho Chi Minh City Command, and related agencies.
Notably, HCMC has methodically deployed the health strategy in the period of safe, flexible adaptation and effective control of the Covid-19 epidemic with a specific plan.
The city also has launched a campaign to protect people in at-risk groups and to monitor high-risk places. He also highly appreciated the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control for building a medical strategy to deal with the Omicron variant comprising of eight specific solutions.
Additionally, the city health sector planned to mobilize more than 6,500 private pharmacies to participate in the epidemic prevention and strengthen the mobile medical station and the team to manage people infected with Covid-19 receiving home-care in the community.
According to him, campaigns and plans have been launched with the aim to protect people's health and safety as much as possible. During the implementation process, close coordination between inter-sectoral and inter-units will be the foundation for Ho Chi Minh City’s fight against Covid-19 for a long time.
In the coming time, the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee noted that relevant agencies have paid special attention to high vaccine coverage.
In the campaign to protect people in at-risk groups, Mr. Nen requested that districts and Thu Duc city must make statistics, review and grasp the number of high-risk people in the area for connected information to have preventative measures to protect city dwellers.
Mr. Nen stressed that the health sector should keep a close eye on districts 4, 12, Binh Tan, Binh Chanh and rental houses in its campaign to protect people in high-risk groups especially elderly people.
Associate Professor Tang Chi Thuong said to cope with the Omicron variant proactively, the health sector has dedicated twelve field hospitals to isolate people with positive results for gene sequencing in addition to strengthened control of border gates and seaports.
Presently, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) and the Pasteur Institute are responsible for gene sequencing. To date, OCRU has received 19 samples while the Pasteur Institute received 15 samples. Currently, 14 samples were recorded to carry the Delta variant, the remaining samples have not yet been recorded.
Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc
Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc applauded city-based industrial parks, export processing zones and high-tech zones for using the social contribution resources to establish treatment and treatment zones.
He asked the Department of Health to coordinate with the Department of Finance and related departments - sectors soon in developing financial mechanisms and instructions on operation needed to calm down enterprises.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Tang Chi Thuong, currently, 370 pharmacies in the chain of Pharmacity and 320 local pharmacies have registered to participate in epidemic prevention. They will provide adequate supplies of drugs and necessities according to regulations, consultation for people infected with Covid-19 receiving home health care.
Regarding the response to the new variant of Omicron, Party Secretary Nen noted that the health sector must deal with the new variant proactively by increased supervision at the airport border gate, roads and waterway.
While mentioning the mobilization of more than 6,500 private pharmacies in epidemic prevention, he said that the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control needs to have specific policies to ensure the interests of drug retailers
Answering the question of what Ho Chi Minh City will do in the coming period, Secretary Nen noted, in addition to the solutions mentioned above, in the health strategy, the human force must be taken into account in setting up mobile medical stations, self-managed teams, field hospitals. It’s good news that about 15,000 students of Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University will participate in the epidemic prevention. They will work in grassroots health care facilities.
According to Mr. Nen, it’s important to have clear regulations on obligations and rights to attract final-year medical students to participate in the epidemic prevention and control in infirmaries in districts. There must be a specific policy on grassroots health care clinics. In respect of drugs to treat Covid-19, Mr. Nen affirmed that Ho Chi Minh City has no shortage of drugs; however, it is important to strictly manage the distribution of drugs.
Concerning the socio-economic recovery and development strategy, the Secretary of the city Party Committee suggested that it is necessary to strengthen inspection of compliance with epidemic prevention regulations when reopening activities as well as a social security strategy for the people.
