Cần Thơ Stroke International Service (SIS) Hospital. — VNA/VNS Photo Ánh Tuyết

MEKONG DELTA — The healthcare system in the Mekong Delta has been steadily expanding and becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the large number of choices available now is helping reduce overcrowding at HCM City hospitals.

Many public hospitals there have begun using the latest diagnosis and treatment techniques.

The Cần Thơ Central General Hospital has, for instance, set up several specialised departments such as the traumatology and orthopaedics centre and cardiac centre so that people in the delta do not need to go all the way to HCM City for treatment.

Many sophisticated treatments are offered at the hospital and the two centres.

The Cần Thơ Children’s Hospital is increasingly using new advanced techniques taught to them by doctors from HCM City hospitals like continuous dialysis.

The delta’s rapid socio-economic development and large demand for healthcare have also attracted many investors who have built private hospitals.

The Cần Thơ Stroke International Service Hospital opened last February with 100 beds to provide treatment for stroke and cardiac intervention.

Dr Trần Chí Cường, its director, said the VNĐ500 billion (US$21.5 million) facility had modern equipment to treat strokes and heart ailments.

Dr Nguyễn Huy Quang, head of the Ministry of Health’s legal affairs department, said the hospital offered people in the delta region high-quality healthcare, and they would no longer have to go to hospitals in HCM City more than 200 kilometres from Cần Thơ and thus lose the ‘golden hour’ as the first hour is called in treating strokes.

Cần Thơ has five other private hospitals: Hoàn Mỹ Cửu Long Hospital, Phương Châu International Hospital, Hòa Hảo Medic Cần Thơ Hospital, Tâm Minh Đức General Hospital, and Sài Gòn-Cần Thơ Eye Hospital.

Three others, Vinmec International Hospital, Nam Cần Thơ General Hospital and Trung Sơn Gastroenterology and Hepatology Hospital are under construction.

Technical World Group is building the Long An Obstetrics and Children Hospital in Long An Province. It will receive technical assistance from Từ Dũ Hospital, Hùng Vương Hospital, Children’s Hospital 1, and the City Children’s Hospital in HCM City.

In Sóc Trăng Province, the first private hospital, Hoàng Tuấn Medical Centre, opened in 2009 and in 2016 was expanded into the Hoàng Tuấn General Hospital.

Sóc Trăng also has other private hospitals, including one for treating eye diseases.

Vĩnh Long Province got two private medical facilities in 2018, the Triều An Loan Trâm General Hospital and the Xuyên Á-Vĩnh Long General Hospital. 

According to the An Giang Department of Planning and Investment, the province has five private hospitals, Long Xuyên, Châu Đốc and Tân Châu.

The province is urging private hospitals to expand and upgrade.

Cần Thơ offers incentives for investors to build hospitals, including an 80 per cent cut in land rentals in the districts of Cái Răng, Bình Thủy, Ô Môn, Thốt Nốt, and others.

Family Medical Practice is developing health stations in the delta. —VNS