Recognized as the first excellent cardiovascular center in Vietnam

On July 18, Children's Hospital 1 (HCMC) was officially recognized by Children's HeartLink as the first excellent cardiovascular center in Vietnam. This is also the 7th excellent center in the world after 6 excellent centers of Children's HeartLink in Brazil, China, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Children's HeartLink representative presents certificate to Children's Hospital 1 at the ceremony

Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Nguyen Thanh Hung, Director of Children's Hospital 1, said that to achieve this success, the hospital has tried to develop step by step over the past nearly 20 years.

Before 2004, many children with congenital heart disease had to go abroad for treatment at very high costs, beyond their ability to pay. Many seriously ill children even died while waiting for their turn for surgery.

Over the past 15 years, Children's Hospital 1 has performed more than 5,100 open heart surgeries and more than 7,100 interventional cardiology surgeries, with a survival rate of 98%.

In 2004, Children's Hospital 1 implemented closed heart surgery but still had difficulties in equipment and facilities. By 2008, with the support of Children's HeratLink and a number of other organizations, doctors, nurses, and technicians of Children's Hospital 1 were sent for training both domestically and internationally in open heart surgery, interventional cardiology, anesthesia and resuscitation, extracorporeal circulation, echocardiography, fetal echocardiography, cardiac MRI, electrocardiography, arrhythmia treatment, ECMO, etc.

"Thanks to that, the hospital now has a team of highly skilled cardiologists who can treat, intervene and perform surgery on most complex cardiovascular diseases, especially on premature and extremely low birth weight infants. At the same time, this is also the place to transfer cardiac catheterization and cardiac surgery techniques not only to many provinces and cities in the country but also to many countries in the world such as Taiwan, India, Japan, Singapore, China, Malaysia..." - Dr. Hung shared.

According to Dr. Hung, one of the evaluation criteria of Children's HeartLink is the effectiveness of treatment, which is shown through the survival rate index in the first 30 days after surgery or cardiovascular intervention. Over the past 15 years, Children's Hospital 1 has performed more than 5,100 open heart surgeries and more than 7,100 interventional cardiology procedures, with a survival rate of 98%.

"Cardiology is one of the most impressive and effective specialties in the past 20 years, helping to reduce the mortality rate from 4.9% (2007) to 0.4% (2021), bringing joy and happiness to thousands of families" - Dr. Hung said.

The hospital's cardiovascular center of excellence, including the Cardiology Department, Interventional Cardiology Unit, Cardiac Surgery, Cardiac Resuscitation and Anesthesia and Resuscitation Unit, is recognized as a premise to become a specialized cardiovascular center in Southeast Asia in the near future.

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