Many modern hospitals were put into use, hundreds of specialized medical techniques were applied... The grassroots health system was also improved with the highest goal of caring for and protecting people's health, improving the quality of the race.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day, Vietnam News Agency reporters have produced a series of 3 articles with the theme "Building a healthy community, comprehensive and sustainable development" to review the positive aspects in the work of caring for and protecting people's health from treatment to prevention of the Ho Chi Minh City Health sector.

Lesson 1: Changing the face of the medical industry

Determining comprehensive health care for local people, in recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has devoted many resources to continuously expanding the medical facility system, renovating infrastructure, purchasing modern equipment, applying advanced techniques, contributing to helping people access medical facilities as quickly as possible, with the best quality of medical examination and treatment.

Joy at new hospital projects

In the atmosphere of the whole country celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South, people of Hoc Mon district and neighboring areas were happy when the new construction of Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital was put into operation.

In late April, Mrs. Tran Thi Ut Em (63 years old, residing in Xuan Thoi Thuong Commune, Hoc Mon District) was taken by her daughter to Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital for a medical examination. She was surprised when the hospital became more spacious, clean, and modern.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc (32 years old, living in Ba Diem commune, Hoc Mon district) decided to give birth to her second child at Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital instead of going to Tu Du Hospital as she originally intended. She shared: “After the new hospital was completed, spacious, clean and had the support of doctors from higher levels, my family and I felt secure in choosing to give birth here. And I am really satisfied.”

Doctor Dang Quoc Quan, Director of Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital, said that the construction of Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital has a total investment of 1,894 billion VND, with a scale of 1,000 inpatient beds. After completion, this facility is oriented to develop into a complete general hospital with all specialties, meeting the basic medical examination and treatment needs of local people.

The hospital has invested more than 1,400 billion VND in a package to purchase modern medical equipment such as DSA, MRI, CT machines... Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital is receiving professional support from the city's upper-level hospitals such as People's Hospital 115, Children's Hospital 1, Tu Du Hospital, Hospital of Dentistry and Jaw... to develop specialized techniques.

“Our goal is to develop specialized techniques locally so that people no longer have to go to higher levels, creating favorable conditions, meeting people's expectations and contributing to reducing the load on end-line hospitals,” Dr. Quan shared.

Recalling the past, Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital was the hospital with the most cramped and degraded facilities in the medical system in Ho Chi Minh City. According to Dr. Dang Quoc Quan, that was a period when the hospital went through countless difficulties, patients complained about its old and degraded condition, it could not recruit many highly qualified doctors, and many medical staff even resigned and moved to a place with more favorable conditions. In particular, due to the terrain in a low-lying area, every rainy season, the hospital was heavily flooded, many machines and equipment had to be placed on high ground to avoid damage, and medical staff waded through water to rescue patients.

Similarly, since the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital moved to its second facility in Thu Duc City, all medical staff and cancer patients have been extremely excited. In previous years, anyone who had visited the Oncology Hospital’s first facility in Binh Thanh District was dismayed to see the cramped and dilapidated condition there.

The situation became more serious when the number of patients from the southern provinces and cities flocked to Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital for examination and treatment increased. This situation has ended since the Oncology Hospital 2 was put into operation. The new hospital has a scale of 1,000 beds, designed according to international standards and has many modern equipment including: new generation CT machine, 3.0 Tesla MRI, 6 new generation radiotherapy machines, 16 modern international standard operating rooms with positive pressure system, continuous testing system, gene sequencing system, immunohistochemistry... modern equivalent to leading hospitals in Southeast Asia.

Seeing patients being examined and treated in a spacious, clean, modern hospital, Dr. Diep Bao Tuan, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, could not help but be moved. He said that many years ago, in a program to celebrate Vietnam Doctors' Day (February 27), when asked by the City leaders about the wishes of doctors, many hospital directors wished for more staff, more machinery, and modern equipment, but for him, he only wished that when cancer patients came to the hospital, they would each have their own bed, not having to squeeze 2-3 people on a bed, or even having to "crawl under the bed" like at the Oncology Hospital. And now, Dr. Tuan's wish has come true.

“The new hospital space helps patients feel more comfortable and less tired, and doctors and nurses also have space to develop the specialized techniques they have learned and accumulated over the years. Now we are satisfied,” Dr. Diep Bao Tuan confided.

A push to promote rural healthcare

Along with the operation of Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital at the western gateway, in 2025, Ho Chi Minh City will put into operation two other gateway hospitals, Cu Chi Regional General Hospital and Thu Duc Regional General Hospital.

These projects mark an important turning point in improving the quality of healthcare in Ho Chi Minh City, especially in the suburbs, to meet the increasing demand for medical examination and treatment of the people, reducing the burden on upper-level hospitals. These are 3 hospitals approved by the Prime Minister for investment with capital from the Ho Chi Minh City budget. Each hospital has a total investment of 1,800-1,900 billion VND, with a scale of 1,000 beds. To serve the examination, treatment and care of the people most effectively, all 3 hospitals have invested in purchasing equipment with a total amount of nearly 4,400 billion VND.

Previously, in 2018, from the swampy land of Binh Chanh district - the southwestern gateway of Ho Chi Minh City, a modern hospital was built, which is the City Children's Hospital (people still call it Children's Hospital 3). The project was built with a total cost of 4,500 billion VND on a construction floor area of ​​over 12,000 m2 including 1,000 beds, 10 functional rooms, 39 clinical and paraclinical departments.

At that time, the City Children's Hospital was designed as a hospital practicing the hospital-school model that met international standards, with modern investment equipment of the latest generation. Right from its inception, the City Children's Hospital was oriented to focus on developing specialized techniques in pediatrics for the first time in Vietnam, equipped with many modern devices such as, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, Hybride operating room for cardiovascular surgery, microsurgery system, neuronavigation equipment, MRI machine, CT machine...

Up to now, after 7 years of operation, the City Children's Hospital has become a trusted medical examination and treatment address for people in Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of the Southwest. Notably, in 2020, this hospital successfully performed the surgery to separate conjoined twins Truc Nhi - Dieu Nhi. The surgery was evaluated by the international medical community as demonstrating the high level of expertise of the doctors and the remarkable progress of Vietnamese medicine.

In 2022, the construction of the new Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital, Facility 2 at Tan Kien Medical Cluster, Binh Chanh District will also be put into operation with a total investment of 1,000 billion VND, meeting international standards, equipped with many modern devices such as: Cytological pathology, genetics, molecular biology, gene sequencing. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital is the first public medical facility in the country to achieve JCI (Joint Commission International) certification - the gold standard for medical quality, opening up treatment directions for foreigners in the future.

Mr. Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, said that in recent times, the City's health sector has continuously put into operation very spacious, modern and highly specialized hospitals.

“Never before has the City’s healthcare infrastructure been invested so heavily. We believe that with this investment and increasingly improved human resources, the City’s healthcare sector will be able to undertake the tasks assigned by the Central Government and strive to become an ASEAN Healthcare Center by 2030.

Lesson 2: The first steps towards internationalization