Military civilian translator

Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng (front, right) and officials visit the hall of traditions of the 108 Military Central Hospital in Hà Nội on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội-based 108 Military Central Hospital on Monday received the Hero of Labor title – the highest honour in Việt Nam – for its outstanding achievements as it celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng attended the celebration and planted a tree in the hospital campus to mark the event.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam applauded the achievements made by the hospital and appreciated the contributions of its staff over the last 70 years.

He said that the hospital’s medical workers and scientists had made great improvements.

“They not only mastered the latest medical techniques and equipment but also helped train and transfer the techniques to other hospitals,” Đam said.

In the hospital’s proud history, it was known recently as the first hospital in Việt Nam to conduct a lung transplant with the lung donated by a brain-dead donor and the first hospital in Southeast Asia to conduct an arm transplant with the two arms from a brain-dead donor in September 2020.

The first arm transplant with arms donated by a live donor in the world was also done at the military hospital in January 2020.

Deputy PM Đam also applauded the hospital for its innovation in management, making it not only a hospital for military personnel, a unit for military medical studies and training but also a prestigious healthcare provider for all people.

On this occasion, Đam called on the hospital managers and staff to further improve expertise, morality and ethics so that they could better maintain good characteristics of Vietnamese soldiers and Vietnamese medical workers.

The hospital was also expected to boost scientific studies, medical training and apply the latest medical technology in the world so that it could provide global-level healthcare services.

“The hospital must be well equipped to treat diseases during peace and prepared for emergencies like disasters or wars, particularly those with modern technologies,” Đam said.

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam presents the hospital with the “Labour Hero in the Renewal Period”. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

Director of the hospital Mai Hồng Bàng said that Yên Trạch Central Hospital, the precursor of the 108 Central Military Hospital, was established in 1951 in Thái Nguyên Province – part of Việt Bắc (northernmost Việt Nam Base) to serve the General Staff Command, provide medical services to wounded soldiers as assigned by the Military Medical Department and first aid and treatment to residents in the military zone.

During the wars, despite a shortage of equipment and supplies, the hospital has managed to attain excellent results, especially in the treatment of wounded soldiers, contributing to the victory of the resistance war against French colonialists. In 1956, it was renamed 108 Central Military Hospital. In 1985, the hospital was conferred the title Hero of the People’s Armed Forces for its efforts during the American war.

“Generations of staff and medical workers have determined, united and innovated to overcome difficulties and challenges, making the hospital now one of five leading hospitals in the country,” Bàng said.

The hospital was also a prestigious medical research and training centre in Việt Nam and overseas, he said.

Until now, as many as 316 organ transplants were conducted at the hospital including transplantations of kidneys, livers, marrow and stem cells.

For the last seven years, the numbers of patients to the hospital increased gradually. In 2014, it received about 1,500-1,800 people daily while in 2020, the number of patients stayed at 4,500-5,500 people daily.

Besides regular medical examination and treatment, the hospital usually sends staff to remote and disadvantaged areas. For the last ten years, its staff gave free medical examination and medicine to nearly 120,000 people, free facial operations for about 3,000 children, free joint replacement surgeries for about 500 people and free eye operations for nearly 1,700 people.

The hospital also ensures military medical services in Song Tử Tây Island, Trường Sa (Spratly) islands. As many as 10,544 patients including soldiers and people living and working on the island received a medical examination and treatment from the hospital staff.

Notably, in 2014, the hospital’s Song Tử Tây healthcare unit helped a mother give birth to the first baby who was born on the island. The hospital also helps train medical teams who respond to emergencies or those who joined the United Nations’ level-2 Field Hospital in South Sudan.  VNS

Delegates at a press conference announcing the first successful bowel transplants from live donor s in Vietnam (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) – The two live donors were in stable conditions after the operations. Meanwhile, the patients were under intensive care and close watch of medical workers, with stable vital indicators. bowel transplants from live donors have been carried out successfully for the first time.

Director of the Military Medical University Prof. Dr. Lieut. Gen. Do Quyet said with this success, Vietnam has made into the list of 22 countries in the world to perform such a complex surgery.

To date, Vietnamese doctors have performed about 1,000 bowel transplants.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan noted that the Military Medical University is one of the leading medical establishments of Vietnam in scientific research and extended his congratulations to the university on its accomplishments.

It is the first Vietnamese medical establishment to successfully perform bowel transplant on human, marking a significant progress in the medical sector.

The first patient was Nguyen Van D., aged 42, who underwent five bowel surgeries at various hospitals due to peritonitis, caused by colon perforation. He had a large part of small intestine removed, leaving the organ spanning only 80 cm in May 2007.

He was admitted to the Hanoi-based Military Hospital 103 under the Military Medical University on May 2 this year because of intestinal failure triggered by short bowel syndrome, type 1 and bowel incontinence.

The patient had been under intravenous feeding, a method of getting nutrition into the body through the veins, to fight against disorders caused by intestinal failure.

The other patient was a 26-year-old man named Lo Van T. In early September this year, he was diagnosed to suffer from peritonitis due to necrosis in his entire small intestine.

He had most of his small intestine removed at a hospital in Than Uyen district of the northwestern mountainous border province of Lai Chau. The organ measured nearly 20 cm in length.

The patient was transferred to the Military Hospital 103 on September 29 owning to fatigue and exhaustion caused by short bowel syndrome, type 3.

He was also under intravenous feeding and later diagnosed with liver disease associated with intestinal failure in the small bowel syndrome.

Upon receiving the two patients, the Military Medical University had consulted experts in the field, determining that both of them had stable indexes for bowel transplant.

The university then sought permission from the Ministry of Health to perform the surgeries at the Military Hospital 103 .

The operations were performed on October 27-28 by doctors of the hospital and their colleagues from Japan’s Tohoku University Hospital.

Lo Van T., 26, got a bowel section from his mother, 47. The first patient, Nguyen Van D., received a healthy bowel from his younger brother, 40.

In 2019, the Military Medical Hospital was assigned by the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out research on bowel transplant from live donors, and Prof. Dr. Lieut. Gen. Quyet was the head of the research team.

The successful surgery would open up more opportunities for patients who are in need of bowel transplants, Quyet said.

In January, Vietnam conducted the world’s first limb transplant from a live donor. The operation was carried out by doctors of the Central Military Hospital 108 in Hanoi./.

The double forearm transplant for an 18-year-old patient (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) – Doctors at the Hanoi-based Military Central Hospital 108 has successfully conducted first double arm transplant in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

This is also the fourth time the hospital has implemented organ procurement and transplant at the same time. The organs, which were taken from a brain-dead donor, were transplanted to six patients. Wishing for normal arms Human organ transplantation is one of the most successful advances in the 20th century worldwide, as dozens of thousands of patients have been saved.

The young man before the surgery, with both his arms amputated (Photo: VietnamPlus)

More than 150 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and technicians join operations The organs, which were taken from a brain-dead donor , were transplanted to six patients on September 16. Military Central Hospital 108 . The hospital, in coordination with the National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation , also carried out a heart transplant for a patient with end-stage dilated myocarditis at the Hanoi-based Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital.

More than 150 physicians at the Military Central Hospital 108 performed take part in the 10-hour surgery. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Afterwards, all the patients are in stable health condition. The liver and kidney transplant patients were discharged three weeks after surgery, and the lung recipients were discharged four weeks after the procedure.