Doctors from Facing the World (FTW) - a UK-registered medical charitable foundation and Vietnam's 108 Central Military Hospital conduct a complicated craniofacial trauma surgery in 2019. Photo Courtesy of FTW

LONDON - A medical mission focusing on craniofacial trauma surgery for children will visit Việt Nam from the UK to work with three major hospitals in Hà Nội from November 16-30.

The working trip is part of an annual education exchange programme between the two countries funded by Facing the World (FTW), a UK-registered medical charitable foundation set up in 2002 to treat children from developing countries with craniofacial defects.

Led by Professor Mike Perry, a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the Northwick Park Hospital in London, the mission is the first of its kind to utilise the complete integration of a foreign doctor with Vietnamese doctors to facilitate training and multidiscipline team building and surgical approaches. Professor Mike Perry is a listed Top 50 UK surgeon and is an expert in the field of craniofacial trauma and complex deformities.

During this mission, Professor Perry will lead a team of Vietnamese doctors and anaesthetists who have been working with him over the years through FTW-sponsored fellowships to conduct complex surgeries for children with craniofacial trauma and post-traumatic deformities.

The operations will be carried out at Việt Đức, 108 Central Military and Hồng Ngọc hospitals which are FTW’s partners in Việt Nam. Prior to the surgeries, Professor Perry will join local doctors in conducting assessments and creating treatment plans for potential patients who come from across Việt Nam.

Professor Perry is also expected to conduct a series of lectures on acute facial trauma management at the three hospitals, which can be attended online by Vietnamese doctors nationwide.

During this mission, FTW will also discuss with its partners a programme to help Vietnamese cancer patients.

Voluntary CEO of FTW, Katrin Kandel, said the mission would be the second this year following the multidisciplinary mission in April. It would be the 33rd mission since FTW first sent international medics to Việt Nam to join local doctors in operating complex surgical cases in 2008.

Katrin stressed that creating teams of trained Vietnamese doctors and anaesthetists to take charge of patient consultation and operations domestically, like the one led by Professor Perry on this mission, was key to FTW programme, which is the hub-and-spoke approach where expertise is built up in the correct locations with all patients throughout Việt Nam being able to access.

The CEO of the foundation said the approach aimed to create viable and sustainable solutions to the needs and create sustainable expertise in Việt Nam, which, FTW expected, in the longer term would become part of the surgical expertise training scheme at FTW, acting as a craniofacial centre in Southeast Asia.

FTW started operations in Việt Nam in 2007 after a Việt Nam visit by the foundation found a high rate of birth defects and the need for establishing craniofacial centres in Việt Nam.

The foundation’s key activities cover sending international medics to Việt Nam to operate complex surgical cases; sending Vietnamese doctors abroad to learn new techniques and approaches of craniofacial surgery and treatment; and providing medical equipment, particularly telemedicine equipment and technology.

To date, FTW has helped provide surgeries for thousands of children with craniofacial defects across Việt Nam and sent nearly 150 Vietnamese doctors to top medical institutions in the UK, Canada, the US and Australia for training. The foundation has also donated 2.4 million GBP worth of telemedicine technology and surgical equipment to its partner hospitals in Việt Nam.

In the next five years, FTW plans to enable a further 40,000 operations to be performed by its trained Vietnamese doctors. The foundation expects to send at least another 200 Vietnamese doctors abroad for training and continue to donate medical equipment which is considered to be game changing. VNS