Can Gio residents escape going to inner city for dialysis

Ho Chi Minh City Instead of spending all day in the city center for dialysis, Ms. Phuong, 32 years old, only needs to travel three bus routes to be able to receive treatment.

On the morning of October 18, Ms. Phuong was one of the first three patients to receive dialysis at the Artificial Kidney Unit of Can Gio District Medical Center, when it officially came into operation.

The woman was diagnosed with kidney disease four years ago and has to undergo regular dialysis at Nha Be District Hospital three times a week. When she is healthy, she rides her motorbike, but when she is sick, she chooses to take the bus, spending almost a day traveling.

"Many days I was so tired and dizzy from driving so far that I had to stop at a cafe and ask people to take me back to the hospital for emergency treatment, and wait until evening for my body to stabilize before going home," she said, adding that traveling was more difficult during stormy days.

Currently, although she has to take three bus routes to get to the medical center, dialysis in Can Gio has saved the woman a lot of effort and money.

"I'm a single parent, my husband has to earn a living and take the children to school, so he can't accompany me, so when I heard that I could get dialysis near home, I was very happy," she said.

Leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, Can Gio District and Le Van Thinh Hospital visited dialysis patients at Can Gio District Medical Center on October 18. Photo: My Y

Similarly, Ms. Tham, 45 years old, who has been on dialysis for 5 years at People's Hospital 115, said that because it takes a lot of time and effort to travel to the center, her family rented her a house near the hospital. Here, she has to cook and take care of herself, and can only go home on weekends. Her finances are completely dependent on her husband and children.

"Now that I can have dialysis near home, I miss home less, and I also save a lot on travel and accommodation costs," said Ms. Tham.

Currently, 41 patients with kidney failure, residing in Can Gio district, Can Giuoc district (Long An province) and neighboring areas of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, have to go to hospitals in the city center such as Nguyen Tri Phuong, Le Van Thinh, Nha Be, District 8 and Military Hospital 175 for dialysis. Of these, 16 cases have registered for treatment in Can Gio.

Doctor Tran Van Khanh, Director of Le Van Thinh Hospital, said that over the years, Can Gio district, especially Thanh An island commune, has received attention from city leaders and the health sector, but there are still certain limitations in human resources. Understanding the difficulties of the people here, Le Van Thinh Hospital voluntarily registered and was approved by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health to establish a satellite hemodialysis unit at the Can Gio District Medical Center.

According to Dr. Khanh, when implementing the establishment, the biggest difficulty was that the time needed to complete was very fast, the workload was relatively large, the scale was large, but all procedures and regulations on patient safety needed to be strict and guaranteed.

"We have to work very hard, but today in return people can escape here, suffering less, traveling less far, that is a great source of encouragement for the city's health sector as well as the doctors participating," said Dr. Khanh.

Previously, many patients with chronic kidney failure in Can Gio had to go to hospitals in the inner city for dialysis. Patients in Thanh An island commune had a more difficult time, spending 25 hours going back and forth for one dialysis session, three times a week. They had to ask relatives to take them on a boat across the sea to Can Thanh town to rent a room to stay overnight, and then take a bus to the hospital for dialysis at dawn. Many had to stop treatment midway.

Dialysis area at Can Gio District Medical Center, October 18. Photo: My Y

According to Dr. Tu Kim Thanh, Head of the Artificial Kidney Department, Le Van Thinh Hospital, in the immediate future, two doctors and four nurses from this unit will stay in Can Gio throughout the year to support dialysis patients and rotate personnel every 3 months. At the same time, patients will be supported with almost full health insurance.

Currently, Can Gio District Medical Center has installed 5 hemodialysis machines, basically enough to meet the needs of the 16 initially registered patients. In the next 2 months, Le Van Thinh Hospital will add 5 more machines to support all patients needing hemodialysis here. From now until 2025, the hospital's staff will rotate to support. After 2025, this place will train and transfer so that Can Gio doctors and nurses can receive and master hemodialysis techniques.

Dialysis patient at Can Gio District Medical Center, October 18. Photo: My Y

Can Gio is the only coastal district in Ho Chi Minh City, located in the southeast, about 50 km from the city center by road. Of which, Thanh An is one of 6 communes in Can Gio district, also the only island commune of the city, about 8 km from the district center with about 5,000 people.

Can Gio district currently has 239 medical staff, including 21 doctors (the ratio of doctors per 10,000 people is only 5.14, while the whole city is 20); 125 nurses, midwives, medical technicians; 93 other staff.

In the past 5 years, this place has not been able to recruit doctors, or the staff has quit, leading to many technical categories, especially pediatrics, obstetrics, surgery... not being implemented. The district continues to receive support from rotating professional personnel from leading hospitals such as Hung Vuong, Nhi Dong 2, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Mat...

In the coming time, in addition to deploying a dialysis unit at Le Van Thinh Hospital, authorities will rotate young volunteer doctors to work at the medical station on Thanh An island commune; establish a satellite emergency station managed by the 115 Emergency Center... The district People's Committee will also deploy "social housing" to support accommodation for medical staff coming to work.

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