Doctor Lam and his team urgently placed the male patient with his head low, gave him oxygen, and performed a series of emergency measures to stop the bleeding.

Doctor Vo Thanh Lam examined a dengue fever patient who had just escaped critical condition and was stopped from dialysis on the afternoon of June 21.

This man was transferred to the hospital from Ba Ria – Vung Tau and suffered a second shock because he was overweight.

He is the most severe case of 7 dengue fever cases being treated at the adult Intensive Care and Poison Control Department (ICU) of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City.

`We have to race against time to save patients,` said Dr. Lam, but there are still 8 cases who did not survive.

The number of dengue fever cases in Ho Chi Minh City has increased rapidly since mid-April, equal to the peak of the 2019 epidemic and 117 times higher than the same period last year, leading to an increase in the number of serious illnesses and deaths.

Not only the ICU, more than half of the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases is also overloaded because of severe dengue fever patients being hospitalized.

On the afternoon of June 21, there were up to 5 cases of difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, restlessness, low blood pressure, sweating… causing more than 10 doctors here to work like crazy to treat and administer fluids.

Doctor Le Manh Hung, Deputy Director, said that the hospital is the last line for treating infectious diseases in the South, with 550 beds, but there are 306 dengue fever cases being treated (accounting for more than 55% of the total).

`The most worrying thing is that many people come to the doctor late, when warning signs of serious illness have appeared such as lethargy, abdominal pain, severe vomiting, bleeding… making medical staff have to work much harder.`

Some dengue fever patients use beds in the hallway of Internal Medicine Department A, Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

Many cases of severe hemorrhagic fever are being hospitalized, which is a common situation in a number of medical facilities in Ho Chi Minh City today.

As of June 9, there were 4,400 pediatric patients examined for dengue fever and more than 1,400 cases had to be hospitalized, 1.5-2 times higher than the same period last year.

Similarly, Doctor Nguyen Minh Tien, Deputy Director of the City Children’s Hospital, said the unit is also overloaded because of dengue fever.

Ms. Tuong Vi, 35 years old, in Binh Duong, brought milk to visit her daughter suffering from dengue shock at the ICU, Children’s Hospital 1. Photo: Thu Anh

However, hospitals believe that they can still control the overload situation, and all cases with indications for hospitalization are accepted.

Dengue fever is an annual epidemic, the number of cases increases during the rainy season.