A local baby was born in Bentiu, South Sudan, with the help of Vietnamese doctors from the Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 3.  — Photos courtesy of the hospital

BENTIU — Doctors of Việt Nam’s Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 3 in Bentiu, South Sudan, and their counterparts in the host country, have successfully conducted surgery on a pregnant woman suffering from Pott’s disease. 

With the help of the doctors, a baby boy weighing 4 kg was born safely on January 3.

His mother is a 22-year-old woman from South Sudan who had spinal deformity due to the disease. She had been pregnant for 35 weeks and had signs of fetal distress.

On January 3, the field hospital received a call from the Director of Mision Support, UNMISS Chief Medical Officer, and Head Field of Office for helping Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders-MSF) with the special case.

This is the first time Việt Nam's hospital has been asked to send a team to support another medical unit.

The team sent for help included doctor Nguyễn Thành Nam, head of the surgery department, surgeon and obstetrician Tống Vân Anh, and doctors Nguyễn Văn Tú and Ngô Quốc Hoàn.

“I was quite nervous because I had never performed any surgeries at the field hospital before. This was my first time here,” obstetrician Tống Vân Anh said.

“The mother was not in good shape with her spine being deformed and the fetus was only 35 weeks old. When we did the health check, we found signs of fetal distress and decided to have emergency surgery to save the lives of both mother and her child.”

The surgery was conducted successfully despite a lack of medical equipment.

“We had to perform the surgery with rudimentary equipment. There was no ventilator. The mother’s spine was deformed so it was not possible to administer spinal anaesthesia,” she said.

A team of both Vietnamese and local doctors successfully conducted the surgery for a pregnant woman suffering from Pott's disease.

“I was so happy to hear the first cries of the baby. We are all happy for contributing a small part to this job,” she said.

The team of doctors has successfully conducted the surgery and both the mother and the baby boy weighing 4 kg were safe.

Dr William Deng Yoah from MSF said: “We certainly appreciate the work and assistance because we have seen that we are doing the same thing, saving the lives of innocent people.”

“We appreciate it because if you look at this lady, she would have died with her baby so we really appreciate the kind of assistance they give. We do not know what we can say, but we only want to say thank you and that cooperation is always good, as we were a bit worried when our surgeon was COVID positive. We have a big challenge especially for mothers, and pregnant mothers in labour.”  VNS