Updated: 10/09/2023 05:47:48
Recently, while giving a speech at the opening ceremony of the new school year, the principal of a high school in Dong Thap province suffered a stroke and died. Prior to that, a male driver transporting passengers in District 5 (Ho Chi Minh City) suddenly suffered a stroke and passed away on the way to the hospital… The alarm bells about stroke continue to be sounded.
Emergency care and treatment for stroke patients at People's Hospital 115 (Photo: QUANG HUY)
"The deadly disease" of the 4.0 era
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Huy Thang - Vice President of the Vietnam Stroke Association, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Stroke Association, stated that according to the world stroke map, Vietnam is among the countries with the highest stroke risk, with an estimated rate of over 218 per 100,000 people. With a population of nearly 100 million, the number of stroke cases would be around 200,000 per year. However, currently, Vietnam only has 110 stroke units and centers established nationwide. When the first signs of a stroke appear, emergency treatment must be a race against time to save every brain cell.
Therefore, pre-hospital emergency care for stroke patients is crucial; if performed quickly, it will help patients shorten the time it takes to reach the nearest stroke center. However, many provinces and cities still lack treatment facilities, or if they do, they cannot maintain 24/7 examination services, causing many patients to miss the "golden hour" for treatment in the first few hours.
According to Dr. Nguyen Ba Thang, Head of the Stroke Unit at the University Medical Center of Ho Chi Minh City, stroke is a serious brain injury caused by a significant interruption or reduction in blood supply to the brain. This leads to a lack of oxygen and nutrients for the brain cells. Within minutes, without sufficient blood supply, brain cells will gradually die. Each part of the brain performs a specific function, such as motor, sensory, visual, and auditory functions.
When a stroke occurs, the damaged part of the brain cannot perform its original function, leading to symptoms such as: weakness or paralysis on one side of the body, numbness and loss of sensation, loss of vision in one eye or complete blindness, loss of speech, coma, etc.
"Stroke is considered the 'deadly disease' of the 4.0 era because it can occur in anyone, at any age," said Dr. Nguyen Ba Thang.
Lack of qualified treatment units
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health , Vietnam currently has 36 stroke centers that have been certified as Diamond, Gold, and Platinum by the President of the World Stroke Organization. Of these, 7 hospitals have achieved Diamond certification, 20 hospitals have achieved Gold certification, and 9 hospitals have achieved Platinum certification.
These standards require hospitals and centers to meet many stringent criteria in treatment based on current best practices for patients, as evaluated and certified quarterly by the World Stroke Organization.
For the Diamond standard, the time it takes for a stroke patient to receive emergency medical care, examination, testing, CT scan, consultation, and medication should all be within 45 minutes.
“To provide rapid treatment for stroke patients within the first 60 minutes of onset, and to help patients recover completely, establishing standardized stroke units on a widespread scale is essential. The establishment of stroke units, with a team of specially trained doctors and nurses, is considered a strategy that brings the greatest benefits to the community in many countries. Especially with the requirement for treatment as early as possible within the “golden hour,” stroke units need to achieve the necessary number according to geographical distance, to ensure that patients can reach a stroke unit within 60 minutes of onset,” Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Huy Thang emphasized.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Huy Thang, many provinces and major cities still lack stroke units. Currently in Vietnam, each stroke unit is responsible for over 2,000 patients per year, while the recommendation is that under ideal conditions, each stroke unit should only handle 500 patients per year. This means Vietnam will need 400 stroke units to handle 200,000 cases in the coming years.
According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Phuong Nga, Head of the Neurology Department at Thong Nhat Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, each region or province, depending on its population, should have one stroke center and 2-4 satellite stroke units, similar to the tiered system of treatment. The stroke center is the final level, the stroke units are the first level, and healthcare facilities without stroke units refer patients to the first level, and vice versa. Therefore, two issues need to be addressed: increasing the number of stroke units; and the Ministry of Health should plan the placement of stroke units in provinces and cities based on geographical distance and population.
Price gouging for stroke screenings and examinations. The recent surge in stroke cases has become a major concern for many. Capitalizing on this fear, numerous medical facilities in Ho Chi Minh City have intensified advertising for stroke screening packages, with prices ranging from a few million to tens of millions of dong. However, experts assert that offering so many screening packages is both costly and ineffective. Specifically, the stroke screening package advertised on the Victoria Clinic system website costs nearly 4.3 million VND; at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Clinic in Ho Chi Minh City (District 10), it costs 5.8 million VND; at FV Hospital (District 7), it costs 21.4 million VND; and at the American International Hospital (Thu Duc City), it costs 17.5 million VND. |
According to THANH AN - KIM HUYEN (SGGP)
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