Center for COVID-19-infected new mothers opens in HCM City.
Ho Chi Minh City based hospital of Hung Vuong on August 25 opened the H.O.P.E Centre at Hoa Mi Kindergarten No. 2 in District 5 for healthy babies born to COVID patients. The hospital previously took care of them, but the facility has become overcrowded with patients.
Dr Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet, the hospital’s director, said that more than 50 of 130 babies born to COVID-19 patients at the hospital have been discharged from the hospital.
But their relatives, because of restrictions in travelling amid the social distancing period, cannot pick them up now. The mothers are staying at concentrated quarantine facilities in the city.
The Ministry of Health and the city People’s Committee worked with the District 5 people’s committee, the leaders of Hoa Mi Kindergarten No.2, and the city Women’s Union to set up the centre.
The hospital has provided centre volunteers with training on how to take care of newborns. Doctors visit the centre to check their health each day, and the hospital offers emergency aid if necessary.
Relatives have to follow strict procedures when picking up the babies to ensure safety.
Since April, the hospital has admitted 1,000 pregnant women, and about 500 of them have had COVID-19. Five of the 500 women with COVID-19 had babies who were diagnosed with COVID-19.