by Thuỳ Giang
 

QUẢNG BÌNH — Lê Thị Thuận and her family were indescribably happy when her father's surgery was successful.
Thuận’s father, Lê Hữu Hưng, 68, from Hoàn Lão Town, Bố Trạch District, the central province of Quảng Bình, received surgery to remove a colorectal tumour on October 7 at the Việt Nam-Cuba Đồng Hới Friendship Hospital in the same province.
The three-hour surgery was led by Alfredo Garcia Mirete, a Cuban expert on tumours with 29 years of working experience.
Thuận said that at first, her family intended to get an examination at the Việt Nam-Cuba Đồng Hới Friendship Hospital only, and then move to the Huế Central Hospital, which is about 200km from her house, for surgery as they believed it would be better.
Then Cuban doctors from the Việt Nam-Cuba Đồng Hới Friendship Hospital gave her family careful consultancy and examination. They decided to have surgery here.
“Since then, we saved a lot of time and expenses for travel to Huế,” said Thuận.
On the afternoon of October 7, Đinh Xuân Của, 72, from Minh Hóa District, suffered from coronary thrombosis and was moved from a district hospital to the Việt Nam-Cuba Đồng Hới Friendship Hospital.
Doctor Peter Martinez Benitez, who has 15 years of experiences in the cardiovascular sector, and his colleagues successfully operated on Của.
They are only two out of thousands of surgeries conducted by Cuban experts at the hospital.
Thanks to the experts, local residents feel more secure while being treated in Quảng Bình Province.
Dương Thanh Bình, director of the hospital, said seven Cuban doctors working at the hospital were experts in different sectors such as cardiovascular, paediatrics, tumours and digestion.
During the past two years, the doctors have helped get local residents high-quality health examination and treatment in their hometown.
The hospital now has nearly 1,200 beds, more than 700 workers and manages more than 14,000 residents with health insurance cards. Each day, doctors of the hospital give health examinations to 500-600 patients.
Director Bình said that in recent years, the hospital invited Cuban doctors to work at the hospital.
“Thanks to outstanding Cuban experts, local residents believe in treatment in the province, instead of going to Huế, HCM City or Hà Nội like before,” said Bình.
The experts also gave training and technical exchange to Vietnamese doctors to improve the quality of health services in the area.
Bình said the hospital planned to propose the Cuban Ministry of Health assign two more experts to work in Việt Nam, and extend their term from two years to three years so they would have more time to give professional support to the hospital.
On September 17, 1973, late Cuban President Fidel Castro visited Quảng Bình Province and decided to build a hospital for local residents. — VNS