Professor Erich Johann Lejeune, Founder of Heart for Heart Foundation for Life and Dr Irène Lejeune (centre) -from Germany receive Đà Nẵng city’s dedication award. Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng City General Hospital

ĐÀ NÃNG — Professor Erich Johann Lejeune, Founder of Heart for Heart Foundation for Life and Dr Irène Lejeune – the CEO of the foundation have been given civic awards for their work supporting the city's healthcare services over past decades.

The award ceremony was organised during the occasion of the inauguration of the third Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) system donated by Heart for Heart Foundation to the Đà Nẵng General Hospital.

Doctor and director of the Đà Nẵng General Hospital Lê Đức Nhân said the German medical professionals, Erich Johann Lejeune and his wife Irène, supported the hospital’s cardiology centre with medical equipment and facilities worth millions of euros, and established the first congenital heart ward in 2006.

Professor Erich Johann Lejeune, Founder of Heart for Heart Foundation for Life and Dr Irène Lejeune join an inauguration of a third Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) system donated by the foundation at Đà Nẵng City's General Hospital. Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng City's General Hospital

“Three DSA systems have been donated to the hospital with support and help from Professor Erich Johann Lejeune and his wife, while they helped bring doctors Henrich Netz and Lê Trọng Phi to give surgeries to people with heart disease,” Nhân said.

“Thousands of ‘hearts’ were revived, while families of patients enjoyed happiness thanks to the support from Johann Lejeune, his wife and the other doctors,” he said.

The Lejeune family and Heart for Heart Foundation donated the first DSA system in 2006 before supporting the introduction of the Congenital Heart ward and the second DSA in 2013.

The third DSA donation and a package of angiography with auxiliary equipment was given to the hospital in 2024.

A report from the hospital said that more than 350,000 children in central Việt Nam had received free screen examinations for congenital heart defects thanks to the services, leading to diagnosis in around 3,000 cases.

Doctors Henrich Netz and Lê Trọng Phi, with support from Heart for Heart Foundation, had performed surgeries and treated more than 3,000 underprivileged youngsters suffering from heart disease.

The foundation also provided medical training courses for doctors and staff at the hospital, as well as helping upgrade medical equipment and treatment facilities in the cardiovascular department.

Doctors from Đà Nẵng City's General Hospital begin a surgery with the newly donated equipment from Heart for Heart Foundation for Life from Germany. Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng City's General Hospital

Last month, an American rehabilitation therapist and a volunteer at the central city’s Traditional Medicine Hospital, Virginia Mary Lockett, was given the Friendship Medal by the Party General Secretary Tô Lâm, for her contribution to healthcare and friendship ties between the US and Việt Nam.

Đà Nẵng currently has 12 hospitals, including four international standard hospitals – the Đà Nẵng General Hospital, Family Hospital, Hoàn Mỹ-Đà Nẵng and VinMec Đà Nẵng – providing health services for both local Vietnamese and foreigners.

More than 1,000 doctors are working at public and private hospitals and more than 620 consulting rooms and medical care centres are operating.

The city’s general hospital also assigned the first 200-bed cardiology centre to offer examinations, treatment and surgeries for patients in the city, and the sick from the central and Central Highland provinces.

The hospital also debuted a smart medical kiosk system to support patients with easily accessible data and procedure details.

The stroke centre under the hospital also won ‘platinium status’ from the World Stroke Organisation (WSO) for their efforts in caring for stroke victims in 2021. VNS