Doctor Tạ Văn Trầm examines an infant infected with dengue fever. VNA/VNS Photo

ĐỒNG THÁP When it comes to the fight against dengue fever, it is impossible not to mention professor and physician Dr Tạ Văn Trầm, director of Tiền Giang General Hospital, who has devoted his life to researching effective treatments for dengue fever in children.

Born and raised in Đồng Tháp Province in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta region, since he was a student in high school Trầm witnessed many children who caught dengue fever and died from the disease.

That is what motivated him to pursue research on dengue fever, after graduating from the HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy and starting a job at the Tiền Giang General Hospital Department of Paediatrics in 1989.

During his career, Trầm actively participated in dengue fever control campaigns. He and his colleagues travelled all over the coastal area of ​​Gò Công and the western communes of former Tiền Giang Province (now Đồng Tháp Province), where dengue fever outbreaks regularly occurred.

From his practical experience at the hospital, combined with scientific knowledge and more than 10 years of perseverance and tireless research, Dr Trầm successfully defended his medical doctoral thesis on the topic 'Factors related to prolonged Dengue haemorrhagic fever shock in children' in 2004.

The results of this research opened up new possibilities for solutions that could help save patients with prolonged dengue shock, while also identifying specific measures for prevention and appropriate treatment of dengue fever.

Trầm’s medical research and his proposed solution have brought significant success in dengue treatment, both locally and nationwide.

Previously, the mortality rate from dengue fever in the former Tiền Giang Province was between 15 and 20 per cent. In recent years, this rate has dropped to below 0.1 per cent, meaning that out of 1,000 dengue cases, only one resulted in death, and, remarkably, there have even been years without a single dengue-related death.

Recognising his outstanding contributions to the medical field, the president of Việt Nam awarded Trầm the title of 'Meritorious Physician' in 2008, the title of 'People’s Physician' in 2014, and conferred the academic title of Professor in 2020.

Currently serving as director of Tiền Giang General Hospital, he has led the institution in improving the professional quality across all clinical departments, especially in paediatrics.

The hospital has established several new departments, including the Paediatric Intensive Care and Toxicology Unit — a specialised department for emergency care of critically ill children.

All staff members have received thorough training and are proficient in life-saving techniques, such as intubation with mechanical ventilation and central venous catheter placement.

With support from doctors at higher-level hospitals, Tiền Giang General Hospital has expanded many paraclinical and advanced techniques, gradually mastering diagnostic and interventional methods to strengthen treatment capacity in cardiology, respiratory diseases, gastroenterology, trauma and paediatrics.

In orthopaedics, the hospital has successfully performed hip and knee replacements and lumbar disc herniation surgeries, helping patients regain mobility and return to normal life.

As for paediatric internal medicine, the hospital has actively implemented new techniques such as continuous blood filtration for children, an extracorporeal kidney replacement method introduced in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in 2023, which has saved many critically ill patients.

The hospital has also applied controlled therapeutic hypothermia for full-term newborns with perinatal asphyxia or older children after cardiac arrest due to electric shock or drowning, significantly reducing brain cell damage and the risk of cerebral palsy.

As a lecturer at Trà Vinh University of Medicine, Cần Thơ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Trầm has taught and supervised many postgraduate students, doctoral candidates and resident physicians.

He has introduced numerous technical innovations, applied new technologies and conducted scientific research to improve performance.

The doctor has said he will further engage in research, teaching and training medical staff and lecturers, and work to develop Tiền Giang General Hospital into a leading healthcare centre for the province and the northern Tiền River region, playing a key role in the local and regional healthcare system. VNS