Implementing colorectal cancer treatment technology at High Technology Center, Hue Central Hospital
Cooperation to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment
Fulfilling the role of the center of intensive health care of the country, Hue Central Hospital has constantly developed the potentials and strengths in international cooperation. Since the time when Prof. Bui Duc Phu was the director, and now his successor is Professor Pham Nhu Hiep, the leaders of Hue Central Hospital have always thought of innovating modern facilities and developing human resources of Hue Central Hospital simultaneously to be on par with the world’s level of medicine.
Prof. Pham Nhu Hiep said that in the health care sector, improving the quality of human resources is a top priority. In order to have a staff of high quality, qualified enough to master complicated medical intervention techniques, every year the hospital has actively sent dozens of doctors and officers to France, the U.S., Australia, Italy, Japan, Belgium for training in many different specializations.
Since then, the staff and doctors have more research opportunities to learn new techniques from those countries to apply and deploy at Hue Central Hospital.
From 2015 until now, the hospital has welcomed 221 delegations (including organizations and individuals) with 815 international delegates to many seminars, exchanges of expertise and scientific research, and opened short-term and long-term training courses in various fields: nephrology and medical transplantation, radiology, cardiovascular, odonto stomatology, ophthalmology, hematology and blood transfusion, oncology, pediatrics, anesthesia resuscitation, orthopedic surgery, endoscopy, urology and so on.
At present, people come to Hue Central Hospital for medical examination and treatment are assured by the high quality of medical services as well as the doctors’ morals and ethics. The hospital has implemented many new techniques for the first time in Vietnam, such as heart-transplant by ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), Shockwave technique. Or in the field of medical transplantation, the hospital has performed kidney-transplant routinely and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, prepared full conditions for stem cell transplant treatment for patients with cardiovascular problems or cancer.
In the field of cancer treatment, the hospital has made use of simulators to establish procedures of external and internal radiotherapy, high-dose rate brachytherapy, the application of new regimens for the treatment of lung, ovarian and testicular cancers. In the field of endoscopic surgery, the hospital has adopted natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery in the treatment of colorectal cancer, which was first implemented in Vietnam and in the world.
Building a brand of international hospital
The key to the success of building a specialized health center is the hospital leaders' efforts to attract capital to invest in its infrastructure and modern medical equipment.
In the past ten years, the hospital has in turn built and put into operation High Technology Center (ODA), Cardiovascular Center, Pediatric Center, Regional Hematology-Blood Transfusion Center, Training Center and Ophthalmology Department, Oncology Center, International Pavilion with modern equipment on an area of about 65,000 m2.
The total investment value of these works is nearly VND 1,600 billion, including 25% from the State budget, 75% from non-refundable aid from governmental and non-governmental organizations. The hospital is appraised by the Ministry of Health to be the unit that attracts investment capital through effective international cooperation.
The fact that ODA from Japan and Austria and the funding from non-governmental organizations such as Atlantic Philanthropies-United States, Luxembourg have invested in building and supply equipment through "turnkey contract" has transformed the whole infrastructure of the hospital, turning it into an environmentally friendly hospital, and facilitating medical science and technology development.
In September 2016, the hospital took the provincial General Hospital funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea as the second base of Hue Central Hospital, with the total value of more than USD 30 million. At present, Hue Central Hospital- Base 2 has brought into full play its effectiveness not only to meet the demand for health services for Thua Thien Hue residents but also for the ones from Northern provinces of Central Vietnam such as Quang Binh and Quang Tri. At the same time, it can reduce the workload for Hue Central Hospital. The Ministry of Health and the Government of Republic of Korea have highly evaluated the performance of Hue Central Hospital- Base 2 in the past two years.
Prof. Pham Nhu Hiep, Director of Hue Central Hospital, said that for the immediate and long-term goals, appropriate steps should be taken to build the brand of international hospital for Hue Central Hospital, make it become a high quality medical center, a center for training high-quality human resources for health care services for the people.
Story and photo: Minh Van