Viet Nam improves human organ transplants

Viet Nam has over recent years improved its human organ transplant techniques, with almost all operations resulting in success

January 21, 2006

Since the first kidney transplant at Ha Noi's Hospital 103 in June of 1992, the country has conducted kidney and liver transplant operations on nearly 180 patients.

Besides Hospital 103, kidney transplant has been conducted at other hospitals of Viet Nam -- Germany, Bach Mai and Paediatrics in Ha Noi; Cho Ray, Gia Dinh People, Paediatrics II and People 115 in Ho Chi Minh City and the Hue Central Hospital in central Thua Thien - Hue province.

Liver transplant is one of the most difficult of the organ transplant operations. So far, only three clinics in the country have been qualified to perform liver transplants with assistance from foreign experts, namely the Military Medical Institute, the National Paediatrics Hospital and the Hospital of Paediatrics II.

The first liver transplant was successfully performed at the Military Medical Institute on January 31, 2004. It was followed by two others carried out at the National Paediatrics Hospital and the other at the Hospital of Paediatrics II.

Apart from liver and kidney transplants, bone marrow transplant operations have been carried out at the Hospital 108 in Ha Noi, the Blood Transfusion and Haematology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and the Hue Central Hospital, with around 40 patients having undergone such operations. The Central Blood Transfusion and Haematology Centre at the Bach Mai Hospital in Ha Noi is currently preparing to perform bone marrow transplant operations.

Viet Nam also has three clinics capable of conducting cornea transplant operations, namely the Central Eye Hospital in Ha Noi, and the Eye Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. They have so far carried out a total of 550 transplant operations.

A medical official said that hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City are more dynamic and move more quickly than their colleagues in Ha Noi and Thua Thien - Hue province in applying developing technology to the transplant of human organs. The Cho Ray Hospital alone has conducted a total of 130 kidney transplant operations, while the Blood Transfusion and Haematology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has taken the lead in bone marow transplantation.

Huy Quang, Deputy Director of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Health, said that Viet Nam has a high demand for human organs for transplant. At present, around 6,000 Vietnamese people are awaiting to have kidneys replaced, 1,500 others need livers, and hundreds of thousands of people needs corneas.

According to Duc Vy, Director of the Central Maternity Hospital in Ha Noi, the transplant of uteruses for infertile women has a high possibility and it is hoped that many people may be more willing to offer their uteruses than other human organs.

To solve the shortage of human organs, the National Assembly is proposing that the draft ordinance on offering, receiving and transplanting human organs be upgraded to a bill in order to create a legal framework for organ transplant.

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This article posted February 17, 2006.