With the support of Bach Mai Hospital and other Central Hospitals, mountainous medical facilities have gradually mastered techniques, reduced the number of patients who have to be transferred to higher levels, and increased the chance of being saved thanks to good emergency resuscitation.
Reduce patient referrals
Mr. Tong Thanh Hai, Standing Vice Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee, said that up to now, the health coverage rate in the province has reached 96.5%, exceeding the target assigned by the Government. The reduction in the referral rate shows that trust in local health care and local health capacity have been raised, with the support of central doctors through on-site training, "hands-on" training and online consultation.
According to Director of Lai Chau Provincial Department of Health Bui Tien Thanh, with the support of central hospitals, in the past year, the rate of patients in the province having to be transferred to other hospitals has decreased by 10% compared to 2023.
Bach Mai Hospital will support Lai Chau General Hospital to improve professional capacity.
Sharing the results of treatment with techniques deployed locally, a representative of Lai Chau General Hospital said that the hospital has successfully treated and provided emergency care for difficult cases and critical situations. In particular, the Department of Pediatrics of the Provincial General Hospital applied continuous blood filtration techniques to treat a 10-month-old child with sepsis and acute kidney injury.
Another case was a 2-year-old patient who drowned and was in critical condition. Doctors from the Emergency Department, the Pediatric Department, and nurses promptly performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, placed a ventilator, and transferred him safely to the central level. Thanks to effective treatment, after 5 days of treatment at the higher level, the child was stable and discharged from the hospital.
However, mountainous hospitals still have many gaps in human resources and lack of medical equipment. Director of Lai Chau General Hospital, specialist doctor 2 Dao Viet Hung reflected that many medical equipment are outdated, basically used 15 - 20 years ago. Many hospital equipment has been fully depreciated, almost "back to the ground"; human resources and technical expertise criteria have not been met to be upgraded to grade 1.
"About 50% of patients referred to the hospital are cardiovascular and cancer patients, so we hope to perform cardiovascular interventions to promptly treat patients. For cancer, the first step is to develop early diagnosis techniques, followed by palliative care and chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is the next step because it requires expensive equipment and more specialized training in a narrow specialty. We hope to receive investment in equipment, first for cardiovascular and oncology. We need to invest more in repairing and purchasing basic equipment," Dr. Hung said.
At the provincial level, it is even more difficult, at the district level. Doctor Vu Van Quang, Director of Than Uyen District Medical Center - a unit 100 km from the provincial hospital, shared that among the center's human resources, more than 10% are still at intermediate level. Currently, there are 7 doctors studying resuscitation for 9 months and some doctors studying pediatric emergency medicine at Bach Mai Hospital.
"Without support, it is very difficult to study to improve one's qualifications. Studying for 3 months costs about 50 - 60 million VND. If 50% support is given, one still has to spend 30 million VND, which is very difficult compared to the average income of less than 10 million VND/month, because in addition to tuition, there are other expenses such as rent, food...", Dr. Quang informed.
Similarly, Dr. Hoang Viet Bac, Director of Sin Ho District Medical Center, said that despite his best efforts, the unit is facing difficulties in training funding. Dr. Bac hopes that the provincial Department of Finance will consider providing financial support so that doctors and nurses can attend advanced training.
"We also hope to be equipped with more equipment and receive attention to facilities because both hospitals in the district medical center are degraded," Dr. Bac reflected.
Without medical care, the rich cannot save
Through surveys and actual medical support in the province, Associate Professor Vu Van Giap, Deputy Director of Bach Mai Hospital, assessed that Lai Chau General Hospital is one of the few provincial hospitals that is still a grade 2 hospital. It is necessary to improve capacity in terms of human resources, equipment, and upgrade the hospital so that people can enjoy quality medical services right in their hometown.
"Due to the difficulty of traveling, it takes 4-5 hours from the provincial hospital to the farthest district hospital (equal to the time from Vietnam to Australia), if a patient with myocardial ischemia is brought to the province for emergency treatment, the golden time for treatment is lost. Or a patient with a stroke from Lai Chau to Bach Mai also takes 5-6 hours. Therefore, Lai Chau needs to focus on expanding basic techniques to the district level to promptly treat patients", Mr. Giap noted, at the same time affirming that Bach Mai Hospital will help Lai Chau with neonatal emergency, cardiovascular emergency and some of the most basic specialties. In addition, training for Lai Chau's health system on human resources is needed to ensure on-site human resources.
Faced with the increasing trend of cardiovascular diseases in the community, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai, Director of the Cardiovascular Institute, Bach Mai Hospital, said that they will support cardiovascular emergencies. Bach Mai Hospital will also deploy and support cardiovascular disease screening, such as screening and management of hypertension, management of heart failure patients, etc.
"Cardiovascular intervention at the provincial hospital is extremely urgent, because if we go to the central hospital for emergency treatment, it will be far away, and it will be past the golden hour. Therefore, the province needs to pay attention to investing in implementing it," Ms. Hoai said.
Sharing more, Associate Professor - Doctor Vu Van Giap pointed out that in emergency cases of stroke and cardiovascular disease, time is the brain, time is the heart, time is life. Therefore, he suggested that Lai Chau should pay attention to investing in healthcare.
"Even people with conditions in the province cannot save their lives if they have cardiovascular problems such as myocardial infarction, stroke, etc. because they cannot travel from Lai Chau to Hanoi in time. And this problem can happen to anyone, even young people," Dr. Giap warned.
He also said that along with training human resources, Bach Mai Hospital will rotate doctors to take charge of some treatment departments at Lai Chau Provincial General Hospital; increase Bach Mai doctors to work at the provincial hospital, support the provincial hospital to have enough human resources to be upgraded; first of all, improve the quality of treatment and medical care for the people of the province.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lap-khoang-trong-nhan-luc-cho-y-te-vung-cao-185250109194505028.htm
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