Doctors at the telemedicine conference on Tuesday. — Photo suckhoedoisong.vn

HÀ NỘI — The country's 91st COVID-19 patient, a British pilot, will be transferred to the intensive care centre in HCM City’s Chợ Rẫy Hospital to have a lung transplant when the patient is healthy enough for the procedure.

The hospital has improved its intensive care centre to ensure the highest safety before receiving the patient for further treatment.

This was the conclusion made at a telemedicine conference of leading doctors in the country on Tuesday to find optimal ways to save the patient.

Lương Ngọc Khuê, head of the Health Ministry's Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, said the Association of Young Vietnamese Entrepreneurs and many donors were willing to cover all medical expenses of treatment and lung transplant for the patient.

Also at the meeting, the doctors said the second computed tomography (CT) scan of the critically-ill British pilot – the 91st patient – showed positive improvements. About 20 to 30 per cent of his lungs have recovered.

The patient still has to depend completely on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). Without the support, he will die. If his lungs do not recover, the only way to save him is a lung transplant, Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh Châu, director of HCM City’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases said.

The patient has been on ECMO for 44 days. The patient has undergone two CT scans, one on Monday and another on May 13.

The first CT scan images on May 13 showed severe solidification and fibrosis of the lungs, making it difficult for oxygen to get into the patient’s blood. Only 10 per cent of his lungs were working.

The 43-year-old male patient remains the most difficult COVID-19 case in Việt Nam, with a complicated disease progression since he was hospitalised on March 18 at HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases. During two months of treatment, his condition has fluctuated with several changes in COVID-19 testing results. — VNS