Baby swept away by flood in Lang Nu (Lao Cai) discharged from hospital after 50 days in Bach Mai Hospital

On the afternoon of November 1, at Bach Mai Hospital, a ceremony was held to congratulate Thao Nguyen, a victim of the horrific flash flood in Lang Nu village nearly 2 months ago, on being discharged from the hospital, after days when it seemed like life was slipping away from her body...

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan came to congratulate baby Thao Nguyen and her family along with the medical staff of Bach Mai Hospital...

Touched when presenting the gift to the child, Minister Dao Hong Lan hoped that the patient would return home healthy and study well. At the same time, the Minister acknowledged and highly appreciated the efforts of the doctors and nurses in treating Thao Nguyen in particular and taking care of people's health in general.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan, General Director of Vietnam Social Security Nguyen The Manh and delegates, along with Director of Bach Mai Hospital Dao Xuan Co, congratulated the baby and his family. Photo: Tran Minh

Determined to save the baby by all means

Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co, Director of Bach Mai Hospital, emotionally shared that the miraculous revival of baby Thao Nguyen will continue to bring strength to the village with a tragic fate due to the severe and catastrophic impact of super typhoon YAGI ...

Little Mong Hoang Thao Nguyen was found by the rescue team after 1 hour of flash floods and landslides in Lang Nu, Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province.

After 2 transfers from Bao Yen District Hospital to Lao Cai Provincial Hospital (tracheostomy, ventilator), in the early morning of September 11, 2024, the patient was transferred to A9 Emergency Center - Bach Mai Hospital in a very critical condition, deep coma, low blood pressure.

Immediately afterwards, the child was transferred to the Pediatric Center - Bach Mai Hospital for intensive treatment. On September 12, Bach Mai Hospital held a hospital-wide consultation and established a special task force to focus on treating the child.

The council concluded that the child suffered from septic shock, multiple organ failure, severe respiratory failure, severe pneumonia (ARDS) due to drowning and inhalation of mud, grade 3 liver injury, fracture of 1/3 of the right clavicle, monitoring for subdural hematoma in the left cerebral hemisphere, monitoring for infection and multiple organ failure.

Intensive measures such as blood filtration, mechanical ventilation, bronchoscopy, and antibiotics were applied in the first hours.

On the morning of September 15, Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co connected and invited Japanese expert: Prof. Dr. Hashimoto, Department of Respiratory, National Center For Global Health and Medicine Hospital, Tokyo, Japan to directly come to the Hospital to consult with doctors and experts.

At that time, the patient's condition was critical, with severe pneumonia due to fluid and mud accumulation. After 4 days of lung washing, the fluid from the lungs was still cloudy with mud and sand. Experts determined that they needed to do more tests for fungi and bacteria in the sand and mud that the patient had inhaled during the flood and was buried. Experts discussed and came up with the optimal treatment plan, and proposed solutions to save both lungs with a not very optimistic assessment. That same day, the patient was transferred to the Intensive Care Center for further treatment.

Baby Mong Hoang Thao Nguyen was discharged from the hospital after 50 days of intensive treatment at Bach Mai Hospital. Photo: TM

50 days of miraculous revival of the "baby" Lang Nu

The days the patient is treated at the Intensive Care Center are stressful, dramatic, and at times seemingly hopeless, with the patient's chances of survival extremely slim. The patient is continuously filtered, put on a ventilator, artificially ventilated, and given bronchoscopy, stomach, and colonoscopy to remove dirt and stones, collect fluid to look for bacteria, test for fungus, receive antibiotics, and receive intravenous nutrition.

On September 18, the patient stopped dialysis, and on September 20, the endotracheal tube was removed, but on September 21, the endotracheal tube had to be reinserted due to high fever and worsening pneumonia.

Next, Bach Mai Hospital organized an inter-hospital consultation with the participation of leading experts from the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the National Children's Hospital, and experienced multi-specialty experts from Bach Mai Hospital.

After 2 weeks of treatment with all the most advanced methods at the Intensive Care Center, Thao Nguyen was closely monitored for each paraclinical parameter and each clinical manifestation to have appropriate treatment regimens, strategies and treatments for the disease progression. From September 25 to September 29, the patient's vital signs improved significantly.

On September 29, Thao Nguyen was taken off the ventilator. On September 30, the patient was able to move in bed, bringing boundless joy and happiness to the leadership, doctors and nurses of Bach Mai Hospital and her family.

After that, Nguyen was allowed to focus on rehabilitation exercises. The hospital invited a French expert to guide him through scientific and effective exercises.

By October 9, the girl was able to walk, communicate well, and breathe room air. Test results, diagnostic imaging, and clinical manifestations showed that the patient had recovered well.

Director of Bach Mai Hospital Dao Xuan Co shared that in order to have resources to treat Thao Nguyen, Bach Mai Hospital received close coordination from the Hanoi Social Insurance from the beginning, providing information about the health insurance card because the child did not have any documents that could be looked up because they were all swept away by the storm and flood. The total amount that the health insurance fund paid was nearly 600 million VND.

The remaining amount was raised by the Social Work Department, Bach Mai Hospital from benefactors, including living expenses for the family during the treatment period at the hospital.

Before leaving the hospital, Nguyen thanked the doctors and nurses who had treated and cared for him during the past time.

In the landslide disaster in Lang Nu village, Nguyen's family lost 4 people in the flash flood, including his grandmother, uncle and 2 children.

Bach Mai Hospital Director Dao Xuan Co said that on the afternoon of November 1, the hospital had a car take the baby and mother back to Lang Nu village. The doctors gave detailed instructions for the mother to take care of the baby in the best way./.

Source: https://dangcongsan.vn/y-te/em-be-bi-lu-cuon-o-lang-nu-lao-cai-xuat-vien-sau-50-ngay-nam-benh-vien-bach-mai-682133.html