Designated Hospitals
Text
Ebola: Public Health Wales confident about handling any cases
Hospitals in Wales are prepared to deal with any cases of Ebola, the highly infectious virus which has led to 4,000 deaths in West Africa, say health officials. NHS Wales has been preparing for any potential cases for several months. Health boards all have a nominated lead while frontline staff are being trained. Public Health Wales said the risk of a major outbreak of Ebola in Wales "remains very low". Health organisations have been on alert since the news this week a nurse in Madrid had become the first person to contract Ebola outside Africa. Dr Gwen Lowe, consultant in communicable disease, said: "It's a very low risk of an outbreak here in Wales because of the precautions put in place. "We've been working for a number of weeks with the health boards, the ambulance service and other agencies to make sure that all measures are in place." Line break Dr Nathalie MacDermott Image caption Dr Nathalie MacDermott has worked in typhoon and cholera emergency areas before Dr Nathalie MacDermott, from Cardiff, who works in Swansea, is returning to Liberia on Friday for a second period treating Ebola patients with the Christian organisation Samaritan's Purse. "We'll be developing Ebola community care centres - smaller units designed to be within the local community which will hopefully interrupt the transmission of the virus with patients travelling long distances to get treatment. This is the key at the moment to try to stop the epidemic. "The community will be able to see where their relative is and the treatment they're receiving. And it will also help expand bed capacity because there is a shortage of beds. "There's obviously a risk I could catch Ebola as there was last time. But I accept that risk, I can't sit and watch what's happening in west Africa knowing I could help. I will take every precaution I can, but the benefit outweighs the risk. "It's very important that we're prepared here in Wales. Whilst there's a very small risk, it's important our frontline staff know what to look for and to what to expect." Line break Dr Lowe said there were isolation rooms in hospitals and also routes to transport patients meaning they do not come into contact with other patients. 'Confident' Public Health Wales said: "Each of our health hoards has suitable treatment facilities for anyone that is suspected to be suffering from Ebola. We have the necessary protection equipment and are confident that we can handle any cases." Training has been taking place across Wales, including for several hundred staff at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr, where emergency planners say they are fully prepared. Richard Sealey, civil contingencies manager at Cwm Taf University Health Board, said: "It ranges from the masks you see and the gowns and gloves right through to hooded ventilators. We're confident we can receive a patient, manage that patient." Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said a group was coordinating work in north Wales' three main hospitals. "Training sessions for health board staff are continuing, and local 'scenario-testing' will be taking place to ensure that relevant departments understand the role they would play in the event that a person with suspected Ebola infection is identified in north Wales," said a spokeswoman. As part of a wider UK plan, should a patient in Wales become a confirmed Ebola case they would be transferred to one of four designated hospitals in England - which includes the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Jingeng Hospital becomes‘Tomorrow Plan’national designated hospital
A ceremony was held on Dec 21 as Jingeng Hospital in Ruzhou city, central China's Henan province, officially became a national designated hospital as part of the "Tomorrow Plan" of the Ministry of Civil Affairs which aims to provide surgical and rehabilitation services to disabled Chinese orphans. Officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Henan Department of Civil Affairs and Fang Xiangli, deputy mayor of Ruzhou, attended the ceremony. A total of over 1,000 abandoned children with cerebral palsy have been cared for at the hospital since 2009, with a treatment including Chinese medicine and rehabilitation exercises which has been widely praised by experts. The Henan Civil Affairs Department.included Jingeng Hospital in the "Tomorrow Plan" as a designated hospital at the provincial level in October 2010. And, following an assessment and evaluation by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the hospital was selected as one of the national designated hospitals of the plan – and it is the only hospital in the plan that has expertise in Chinese traditional medicine for the treatment of cerebral palsy. The "Tomorrow Plan" is now a comprehensive medical assistance system that includes orthopaedic surgery, remote consultations and treatment of various serious medical conditions. A total of 960 million yuan ($159.11 million) of public welfare funds from lottery sales has been allocated to the plan, which has benefitted 56,000 orphans from 1,109 welfare institutions. Edited by Niva Whyman
HIV/AIDS sufferers rejected by hospitals
Medical treatment denied because of fear, ignorance, says UN report BEIJING - People living with HIV and AIDS in China are routinely denied treatment in mainstream hospitals and face widespread medical discrimination due to fear and ignorance about the disease, according to a study released on Tuesday by the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO). Healthcare providers deny treatment for sufferers or transfer them to designated infectious disease hospitals, falsely citing the protection of other patients or using a lack of resources as an excuse, the report said. Related readings: HIV/AIDS sufferers rejected by hospitals Studies solve mystery of 'HIV-Negative AIDS' HIV/AIDS sufferers rejected by hospitals Expert: AIDS-like disease is not just phobia HIV/AIDS sufferers rejected by hospitals AIDS deaths hit 'peak' as 7,700 die HIV/AIDS sufferers rejected by hospitals 50% of AIDS patients in L America get treatment "Stigma and discrimination in the healthcare system largely stemming from low awareness is potentially more deadly than AIDS itself," Ann Herbert, director of the ILO Office for China and Mongolia, said. The study, conducted by the ILO and the National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control and Prevention, was based on interviews with 103 people living with HIV and 23 healthcare workers from five provinces. Meng Lin, the coordinator of the secretariat of the China Alliance of People Living with HIV/AIDS, said denial of surgery was one of the most pressing issues facing HIV-infected people. They were also denied medical treatment for simpler procedures such as hemorrhoids and cleaning and stitching of wounds. Hospitals sometimes tried to cover up the real reason for their refusal or actually accepted HIV-positive patients in the belief that the resulting media coverage would boost their image and allow them to charge excessive medical bills, he added. "The existence of designated infectious disease hospitals becomes a convenient excuse for general hospitals to turn sufferers away," he said. Meng also said that "unnecessary" HIV testing before surgery had left many sufferers feeling exposed and reduced their chances of getting proper medical services. A survey led by Lu Fan, director of policy research and information at the national AIDS center, the organization that helped the ILO with the report, found 12.1 percent of the HIV-infected interviewees had experienced denial of medical treatment at least once. At the news conference to unveil the report, an HIV-positive patient who declined to be named, said that he was repeatedly denied medical treatment for a back problem in hospitals in Tianjin and Beijing. One doctor said that surgery was impossible as others could get infected, the patient said. "At another hospital ... the doctor told me: 'I sympathize with your suffering but because of your status, I dare not operate'." The patient, a farmer from Tianjin, added that he lost his job in a steel firm after his boss discovered he was HIV-positive. "I've visited many other hospitals and listened to all the excuses, especially lack of equipment. "I have sleeping pills ready and will swallow them when I can no longer take the discrimination," he said. Another HIV-positive man from Hebei province, who contracted the virus through a blood transfusion, recalled how hospital workers insisted on discharging him quickly after they found out he had HIV. "I talked to them later ... and their worry is that when a HIV-positive person is treated in a rural hospital word gets around and people stop visiting and this results in a loss of revenue," he said. Wang Ning, deputy director at the national AIDS center, said patients could file official complaints to their local health administration if they were denied treatment due to discrimination. But "few dare to do so for fear of exposure and social discrimination", said an AIDS patient called Laoji in Beijing. Zhang Ke, deputy director of the infectious disease department at Beijing YouAn Hospital, said it is a designated hospital for people with HIV but is limited in terms of capacity and the treatment it can provide. The policy that people with HIV/AIDS should only be treated in designated hospitals is a root cause of discrimination, he said. Richard Howard, ILO senior regional advisor on HIV/AIDS, said many countries in the Asia and Pacific region face the same issue of discrimination. China introduced a regulation in 2005 to guarantee the right of people with HIV to healthcare. The State Council issued a further notice in December 2010 to combat discrimination. Statistics from the Ministry of Health showed that 932 Chinese people died of AIDS in April. China had 740,000 people infected with HIV and 105,000 AIDS patients in 2009, according to the latest estimates jointly released in 2010 by the ministry and the World Health Organization. Reuters and Cang Wei contributed to this story.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 The China-Japan Friendship Hospital has reopened all its medicaldepartment to the public after being cordoned off since May 8 as aSARS-designated hospital.
2 A recovered severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patient surnamed Xia (centre) is interviewed by media at Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital, which is a designated hospital for SARS treatment.
3 Doctors at the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital - one of Beijing's designated hospitals to exclusively receive SARS patients - test medical equipment for treating patients in its 40 new intensive care units (ICUs). A single ICU can look after 60 people. They are scheduled to be put into use at the hospital tomorrow.