Thông tư 15/2014/TT-BYT

CIRCULAR

ON GUIDELINES FOR NOTIFICATION AND REPORTING BY QUARANTINE ACTIVITIES

Pursuant to the Law No. 03/2007/QH12 dated 21 November 2007 on prevention of contagious diseases;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 103/2010/ND-CP dated 01 October 2010 on details for the enforcement of certain articles on border quarantine in the Law on prevention of contagious diseases;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 63/2012/ND-CP dated 31 August 2012 on functions, missions, authority and organizational structure of the Ministry of Health;

At the request of Head of General Department of Preventive Medicine;

Ministry of Health promulgates the Circular on guidelines for notification and reporting by quarantine activities.

Chapter 1.

PRINCPLES, REGULATIONS, FORMATS, CONTENTS, PROCEDURES AND TIME FOR NOTIFICATION AND REPORTING BY QUARANTINE ACTIVITIES

Article 1. Principles for notification and reporting

1. Accuracy, adequacy, punctuality and integrity must be maintained.

2. Adherence to procedures, formalities, authority and forms enclosed to this Circular must be observed.

Article 2. Reporting authorities

1. Border quarantine agencies in provinces and centrally affiliated cities (referred to as provinces), including International Quarantine Centers and provincial Preventive Health Centers, which conduct quarantine activities.

2. Regional institutes: National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang and Central Highlands’ Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

Article 3. Regulations and formats of notification and reporting

1. Reporting regulations:

a) Periodic reporting: On weekly basis, monthly basis, six-month basis, nine-month basis and annual basis;

b) Ad-hoc reporting:

- Upon detection of individuals suspicious of or afflicted with category A contagious diseases in border areas (Names of diseases are defined in Appendix 1 of this Circular);

- Upon discovery of matters related to radioactivity, chemicals, biology and other hazardous factors, which may cause public health emergencies in border areas (referred to as public health emergencies).

c) Upon requests by superior authorities.

2. Formats of notifications and reports:

Reports are made in writing or by a reporting software. Ad-hoc reports may be executed by fax, by email or telephone or directly spoken before given in writing within 24 hours.

Article 4. Contents and indicators in notifications and reports

1. Periodic reporting:

a) Provincial border quarantine agencies:

- Weekly reports: Contents and indicators in notifications and reports are specified in Appendix 2 of this Circular;

- Monthly reports: Contents and indicators in notifications and reports are defined in Appendix 3 of this Circular;

- Six-month and nine-month reports: Contents and indicators in notifications and reports are stated in Appendix 4 of this Circular;

- Annual reports: Contents and indicators in notifications and reports are prescribed in Appendix 5 of this Circular;

b) Regional institutes: Contents and indicators in six-month and yearly reports adhere to Appendix 6 of this Circular.

2. Ad-hoc reporting:

a) Reports on suspicious cases and afflictions of category A contagious diseases detected in border areas: Contents and indicators in notifications and reports are stipulated in Appendix 7 of this Circular;

b) Reports on public health emergencies: Contents and indicators of notifications and reports are regulated in Appendix 8 of this Circular;

3. Reports made at superior authorities' requests: Contents and indicators are subject to superior authorities’ requisitions.

Article 5. Procedures for notification and reporting

1. A provincial border quarantine agency sends notifications and reports to the General Department of Preventive Medicine and regional institute(s) and to the department of health intra vires.

Apart from sending notifications and reports to the General Department of Preventive Medicine, regional institute(s) and the department of health intra vires, an international quarantine center, when discovering suspicious cases or afflictions of category A contagious diseases in border areas, must notify the provincial preventive health center concerned.

2. Regional institutes:

a) With regard to periodic reports:

- Receive, analyze and respond to notifications and reports from border quarantine agencies intra vires;

- Execute and submit six-month and annual reports to the General Department of Preventive Medicine;

b) With regard to ad-hoc reports: Receive, evaluate and verify ad-hoc notifications and reports from provincial border quarantine agencies intra vires and make reports to the General Department of Preventive Medicine.

Article 6. Time of notification and reporting

1. Provincial border quarantine agencies shall be responsible for delivering notifications and reports according to these time limits:

a) Week reports (given 7 days for data preparation, from 00:00 o'clock on Monday to 24:00 o'clock on Sunday in the reporting week) must be delivered by 14:00 o’clock on next Thursday;

b) Monthly reports (data prepared from 00:00 o'clock on the first day to 24:00 o'clock on the last day of the reporting month) must be delivered by the 15^th of the following month;

c) Six-month reports (data prepared from 00:00 o'clock on the first day of the year to 24:00 o'clock on the last day of the 6^th month) must be delivered by the 15^th of July in the reporting year;

d) Nine-month reports (data prepared from 00:00 o'clock on the first day of the year to 24:00 o'clock on the last day of the 9^th month) must be delivered by the 15th of October in the reporting year;

dd) Nine-month reports (data prepared from 00:00 o'clock on the first day of the reporting year to 24:00 o'clock on the last day of the same year) must be delivered by the 15th of January in the following year;

e) Reports on suspicious cases and afflictions of category A contagious diseases and public health emergencies in border areas shall conform to Section 2, Article 3 of this Circular;

g) Reports made at superior authorities' requests shall be delivered by the time defined by such authorities.

2. Regional institutes shall be responsible for delivering reports according to these time limits:

a) Six-month reports (data prepared from 00:00 o'clock on the first day of the year to 24:00 o'clock on the last day of the 6^th month) must be delivered by the 20^th of July in the reporting year;

dd) Nine-month reports (data prepared from 00:00 o'clock on the first day of the reporting year to 24:00 o'clock on the last day of the same year) must be delivered by the 20^th of January in the following year;

c) Ad-hoc reports must be delivered in 24 hours upon the receipt of notifications from provincial border quarantine agencies;

d) Reports made at superior authorities' requests shall be delivered by the time defined by such authorities.

Chapter 3.

ENFORCEMENT

Article 7. Responsibilities of the General Department of Preventive Medicine

1. Provide instructions and guidelines for notification and reporting by quarantine activities on nation-wide scale.

2. Summarize, analyze and assess notifications and reports on quarantine activities across the nation.

3. Inspect and supervise the notification and reporting by nation-wide activities of quarantine.

4. Coordinate with Ministries, agencies, mass media bodies and international organizations to share information on quarantine activities as per regulations.

Article 8. Responsibilities of regional institutes

1. Provide guidelines, supervise and assess notifications and reports from provincial border quarantine agencies intra vires.

2. Verify, summarize, analyze and appraise activities of provincial quarantine agencies intra vires.

3. Cooperate with regional institutes and share information on quarantine activities.

Article 9. Responsibilities of Health Departments

Departments of Health shall be responsible for inspecting, directing and expediting the enforcement of regulations on notification and reporting by quarantine activities as per regulations.

Article 10. Effect

This Circular comes into force as of 01 May 2014.

Difficulties that arise during the enforcement of this Circular shall be reported to the Ministry of Health (General Department of Preventive Medicine) for settlement./.