The Da Nang’s health sector is now racing against time to deploy full human resources and medical equipment to increase Covid-19 testing capacity.  For the time being, Da Nang’s current testing capacity is 15 times higher than what was reported in March, when first tests for this deadly virus were carried out here.

The Covid-19 testing in progress in the Da Nang Disease Control Centre

Doctor Ngo Thi Kim Yen, the Director of the municipal Department of Health said four medical facilities in Da Nang are already licensed to conduct Covid-19 testing.  They are the Da Nang General Hospital, the Da Nang Lung Hospital, the 199 Hospital under the Ministry of Public Security, and the Da Nang Disease Control Centre.

The four testing facilities in Da Nang have been recognised by the Ministry of Health, the Pasteur institutes of Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City to have the capacity of performing Covid-19 testing.

In addition, a testing lab is being hastily installed at the C17 Police Hospital under the Ministry of Public Security.

Once these labs are on stream, Da Nang will increase the number of patient samples daily taken for Covid-19 testing up to 10,000.

Currently, the licensed testing facilities are rushing to complete the final work so that their testing labs can go into operation as soon as possible.

According to doctor Truong Xuan Hung, Head of General Planning Department in the 199 Hospital, the freshly-formed lab was put into use early today, 5 August.  Once fully operational, this testing facility will ensure a daily capacity of testing about 1,000 patient samples, and in the time ahead, the figures are expected to reach 1,500.

In a similar vein, the setting up of another Covid-19 testing facility with a daily capacity of 600 patient samples in the Da Nang General Hospital is progressing considerably.

All tested patient samples from these hospitals will be sent to the Da Nang Disease Control Centre for re-testing and confirmation.

Every day, Da Nang Disease Control Centre staff conduct Covid-19 tests for about 6,000 specimen samples, which are close contacts of Covid-19 patients.

Till date, the Centre has been equipped with 11 RT-PCR and 3 automatic extraction machines in service for increasing the testing speed so as to give the results soonest.

Currently, 30 health workers in the Department of Laboratory, Diagnostic Imaging and Functional Exploration are racing against time to handle thousands of samples every day.

The Da Nang Disease Control Centre has always been in a closed state with the biological safety level II. The centre staff members equipped with head-to-toe protective gears highly concentrate on making sure so that no mistakes occur during the testing processes.

“Over the past 10 days, our staff have done 10 times more work than they did previously. Tiredness and high work pressure have discouraged them from pushing ahead with their professional tasks. With just a little delay, the risk of infection reappears in the community”, said Ton That Thanh, the Centre’s Director.

In its efforts to increase Covid-19 testing capacity, the Centre has organised training courses on taking patient samples for Covid-19 testing for all testing staff from the city-based hospitals.

The Da Nang Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control is urging functional local agencies to ensure that all patient sample taking and testing steps must comply with the Ministry of Heath’ guidance.

By PHAN CHUNG – Translated by A.T