HCM CITY— Advanced medical techniques in cardiovascular surgery and interventions have been successfully transferred to provincial hospitals, saving the lives of hundreds of patients every year, doctors have said. 

In 2014, doctors at Khánh Hòa Province General Hospital performed cardiovascular surgery on the first patient, with technical assistance from cardiovascular surgeons of Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City.

The hospital performed similar operations on 60 patients, and nearly 100 cases of open-heart operations were carried out by the hospital’s cardiovascular surgeons over the last year, said Nguyễn Văn Xáng, director of the hospital.

As part of the Ministry of Health’s satellite hospital project, Thống Nhất General Hospital in Đồng Nai Province has received transfer of four technical packages in the field of cardiovascular interventions from Chợ Rẫy Hospital since 2013.

The packages include percutaneous coronary intervention, percutaneous mitral commissurotomy, structural heart disease interventions and peripheral vascular interventions.

In January 2015, the hospital opened a heart centre for cardiac monitoring and procedures, with the first four cases of cardiovascular interventions successfully conducted the following month.

A total of 281 patients underwent cardiac procedures at the centre in the first six months of this year, said Trần Thị Quỳnh Hương, deputy director of the hospital.

Of that figure, cardiovascular surgeons at the centre performed more than 240 cases without technical assistance from Chợ Rẫy Hospital, Hương said.

The number of patients being transferred to higher-level hospitals for treatment decreased to 1.05 per cent from 47.4 per cent in 2013.

Cardiovascular intervention is a complex specialty that requires huge investment in medical equipment and facilities as well as qualified physicians, according to Nguyễn Thượng Nghĩa, deputy director of Chợ Rẫy Hospital’s Heart Centre.

The high demand for cardiac monitoring and procedures among patients at provincial hospitals cannot be met by local hospitals.

With transfer of medical techniques from cardiovascular surgeons at central hospitals, local patients with heart disease will receive benefits from examination and treatment at local hospitals, especially for emergency cases that require timely treatment.   

Lương Ngọc Khuê, director of the Health Ministry’s Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department, called for support from local authorities for investment in medical facilities and human resources at provincial hospitals.

“Having qualified medical professionals is a key factor for development of medical establishments,” he said. “Local authorities and leaders of provincial hospitals should develop preferential policies to attract and retain physicians who want to move to higher level hospitals.”

Under the first phase of satellite hospital project approved by the Ministry of Health in 2013, Chợ Rẫy Hospital was chosen as a “core hospital” responsible for transferring advanced medical techniques to four hospitals: Tiền Giang Province General Hospital, Khánh Hòa Province General Hospital, Đồng Nai Province General Hospital and Thống Nhất General Hospital in Đồng Nai Province.

Technical transfer focuses on cardiology and trauma orthopedics.

In the second phase, the hospital will expand the network of satellite hospitals to 19 hospitals by 2020.  —VNS