The 115 Emergency Center in Ho Chi Minh City will be relocated to the city’s outlying district of Binh Chanh, at a cost of almost US$13 million, from its current location in District 10.

The center will lie in Tan Kien Commune, according to a plan submitted by the municipal Department of Health to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee for approval.

It will be in charge of receiving all emergency calls, arranging health emergencies, giving emergency treatment and care, and offering training courses.

The projected emergency center will act as a place to provide ambulance and medical equipment maintenance services, disinfect ambulances, and supply medicine and health equipment to advance out-of-hospital care. 

Dr. Nguyen Duy Long, director of the 115 Emergency Center, said that the new center will carry a price tag of VND300 billion (US$12.7 million).

Apart from the center, the city will set up a network of four emergency centers in District 1, Thu Duc City, Go Vap District, and Can Gio District.

The emergency center in District 1 will be located in the Saigon General Hospital, and bear responsibility for offering out-of-hospital emergency care in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.

The emergency center in Thu Duc City will be situated in the city’s administration center. The center will be responsible for receiving emergency calls, arranging out-of-hospital emergency care in Thu Duc City, and acting as backup information technology infrastructure.

The two other emergency centers in Go Vap and Can Gio will be located in the Military Hospital 175 and the Can Gio Healthcare Center, respectively. The two will also be in charge of offering out-of-hospital emergency care.

The Go Vap District-based center is set to develop an airway emergency model, while the other is expected to spur the waterway emergency model.

These emergency centers will be developed in two phases, with the first for the construction of the centers in Binh Chanh, Go Vap, and Can Gio from 2023 to 2025.

Between 2025 and 2030, the centers in Thu Duc City and District 1 will be put into operation.

After 10 years of establishment, the 115 Emergency Center has a workforce of 171 workers, including 35 doctors. The center also has 39 satellite emergency stations in the city’s hospitals.

The number of emergency calls to the center via phone number 115 soared to 348,752 in 2022 from 7,905 in 2014.

The number of health emergency cases rocketed to 31,138 in 2022 from 6,996 in 2014.

However, the emergency center is facing multiple challenges in mechanisms, infrastructure, workforce, means of transport, backup capacity, and the ability to respond to diseases and natural disasters.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!