Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City: Oncology Hospital is a pioneer in supporting satellite hospitals

ung thư - Ảnh 1. — Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Dung speaks at the ceremony - Photo: HT

On May 15, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital held a ceremony to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the hospital's founding (May 15, 1985 - May 15, 2025).

Pioneering in implementing regional linkage strategy against cancer

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Dung said cancer is still one of the leading medical burdens in the city, with the number of new patients continuously increasing.

The city has been implementing basic strategies, shifting the focus from treatment to disease prevention and early detection of cancer as well as other non-communicable diseases such as stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Therefore, the city plans to build a number of centers for screening for cancer and other non-communicable diseases.

One of these centers is located at the Oncology Hospital in Binh Thanh District, aiming to reduce the rate of new cancer cases and improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients.

The Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee highly appreciated the Oncology Hospital for pioneering in implementing the regional linkage strategy, providing professional support to satellite hospitals in many southern localities, contributing to effectively reducing the workload and improving the quality of patient care right at the facility.

This is the right direction, in line with the medical development orientation of the city and the whole country in the new context.

"The city is implementing a project to develop the Ho Chi Minh City healthcare system to become a regional healthcare center in ASEAN from now until 2030 and the following years. The hospital plays an important role in the process of realizing that aspiration.

The hospital needs to continue developing specialized technical centers, strongly applying modern techniques such as advanced radiotherapy, robotic surgery, targeted therapy and immunotherapy - aiming to reach international standards...", Mr. Dung emphasized.

The Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee requested the hospital to continue to promote its leading role in scientific research and innovation, especially in the fields of early cancer detection, personalized treatment and comprehensive patient care.

Along with the digital transformation of the healthcare industry, developing smart healthcare, aiming to build a comprehensive, effective, modern and humane cancer healthcare system.

ung thư - Ảnh 2. — The Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee highly appreciated Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital for pioneering in implementing the regional linkage strategy, providing professional support to satellite hospitals in many southern localities - Photo: HT

Oncology Hospital masters many advanced and modern techniques and machines.

Dr. Diep Bao Tuan - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital - said that in the early days of its establishment, the hospital only had 425 beds with 465 employees. Now, the entire hospital has 1,300 beds and more than 1,900 employees with full multimodal treatment facilities such as 13 external radiotherapy machines, internal radiotherapy systems, 20 modern operating rooms with positive pressure to ensure sterility.

In addition, the hospital also has diagnostic equipment such as PET-CT, 3-tesla MRI, 128-slice and 64-slice CT, automation testing system, next-generation gene sequencing system, molecular biology testing, etc.

Currently, each year the hospital receives more than 880,000 patients for medical examination, nearly 55,000 inpatient treatments, more than 375,000 outpatient treatments, nearly 39,000 surgeries, 180,000 radiotherapy treatments and 320,000 medical treatments (chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy).

In 2024, the hospital also deployed many new techniques, including stem cell transplantation to treat hematological cancers and hepatic embolization to treat liver cancer; the hospital also established a stem cell transplantation unit...

In particular, the hospital has organized professional cooperation and technology transfer agreements with hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of the Southwest, Southeast, Central Highlands and Central Coast.

According to Dr. Tuan, in the period of 2026 - 2030, the hospital will receive public investment in 5 projects: the project to build a new health examination and disease screening center using high technology; the project to build a 2.7ha auxiliary area; the project to build a proton radiotherapy center; the project to equip a cyclotron and a new radiotherapy machine; and the project to invest in medical equipment for facility 2.

The hospital will take advantage of effectively operating these projects to contribute to the development of the hospital and better serve cancer patients.

On this occasion, Dr. Diep Bao Tuan was honored to receive the Third Class Labor Medal in 2024from the President .

At the same time, 4 individuals of the hospital were honored to be awarded the title of Excellent Physician in 2024. The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health awarded certificates of merit to the hospital's departments and rooms.