Vietnam’s Ministry of Health said the country now has 46 Covid-19 patients on the critical list, including 13 cases of terminally ill.

Treating Covid-19 patient at Bach Mai Hospital - Facility No.2, Ha Nam province. Photo: Vietnamplus

Of the total, two patients are on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), nine need invasive ventilation, four use non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and 23 others consume oxygen therapy glasses.

Typically, one of them is on his deathbed. He is a 54-year-old patient from Thai Binh province suffering some underlying diseases like hypertension, bilateral ureteric stones, and chronic kidney failure.
The man has untreated high blood pressure for many years, bilateral kidney stones, chronic kidney failure, had surgery to remove left kidney stones, and endoscopic lithotripsy of the ureter.

The critical cases are among 1,121 Covid-19 patients treated at 53 clinic institutes from district to central levels.

As many as 330 Covid-19 patients are treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases. This leading hospital offers treatment to critically ill cases. At present, this hospital is put on lockdown due to coronavirus infection and admits severe patients only.

In the week starting on May 10, leading health professionals held two national consultation meetings to discuss the best treatment for severe cases.

Vietnam is experienced in treating critical Covid-19 cases, including the 42-year-old Scottish pilot who spent 68 days on a ventilator, thought to be a longer stretch of time than any patient in the UK.

He was save not in a hospital in his hometown of Motherwell, but in Vietnam’s sprawling and hectic Ho Chi Minh City, with no close friends or family for thousands of miles, by Vietnamese doctors.

“If I’d been almost anywhere else on the planet, I’d be dead. They would have flicked the switch after 30 days,” Stephen Cameron told BBC.

As of May 15, Vietnam has recorded 3,836 Covid-19 infections, including 2,657 who have recovered. The number of dead people due to the coronavirus remains unchanged at 35 for a year now.