District doctors are at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation.

Master the techniques

In 1995, after graduating from Thai Binh Medical University, Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh worked at the Clinic Department, Anh Son District Medical Center. In the process of protecting and taking care of people's health, this young doctor always strives to do his job well.

In 2000, Dr. Khanh was assigned to the Department of Surgery - examining and treating patients mainly with procedures and surgeries. In the new working environment, he tried to study, learn and quickly mastered and performed routine techniques such as appendectomy, cesarean section, surgery to treat bone fractures... He gradually became the main surgeon at the unit. Trusted and trained by his superiors, in 2004, Dr. Khanh was sent to study specialty 1 at Hanoi Medical University.

In 2006, specialist doctor Nguyen Van Khanh returned to work at Anh Son District Medical Center. Leveraging the knowledge he had learned, he directly implemented and initiated a movement to deploy new and advanced techniques in medical examination and treatment at the unit. In the following 4 years, Anh Son District Medical Center deployed over 100 new techniques, such as open surgery techniques for gallbladder removal, gastrectomy, colon resection, hysterectomy, goiter surgery, etc. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh himself was trusted and appointed as Head of the Department of Surgery, then Deputy Director of the District Medical Center.

In the 2010s, the endoscopic surgery method began to be implemented in district hospitals across the country. Working in the field of surgery, Dr. Khanh had already paid attention to this method when provincial hospitals in Nghe An performed the first endoscopic surgeries (in 2001-2002).

Doctor Khanh recounted: “Endoscopic surgery is a medical advancement, an achievement of modern science and technology. The endoscopic method has many advantages over open surgery such as: Smaller skin incisions so less scarring after surgery; Less pain after surgery than open surgery; Less bleeding; Faster recovery time due to less pain, less stress after surgery as well as being able to eat earlier so the hospital stay is shorter, the entire treatment process is faster... I still wish to learn this technique soon to help patients in my district. And in 2012, I was satisfied when my unit sent me to study endoscopic surgery at the Vietnam - Germany Friendship Hospital in Hanoi”.

Doctor Nguyen Van Khanh quickly learned the new technique, but paradoxically, Anh Son District Medical Center did not have the machinery system to implement it. "Learning" must go hand in hand with "practice" to progress. Therefore, he often had to "borrow machines" from the Southwest Regional General Hospital and bring patients from the district here for surgery. Thanks to that, on August 14, 2014, when Nghe An Department of Health arranged to install an endoscopic surgery system for Anh Son District Medical Center, Doctor Khanh was able to perform it proficiently right away.

Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh recounted: “Right after the machine was installed, the hospital received a patient with appendicitis. I performed laparoscopic surgery on this patient. The surgery took 1 hour, equivalent to the time taken by doctors at the provincial and central levels… From then on, laparoscopic surgery gradually became the mainstream of the surgical specialty in the unit. By October 2014, we were able to perform laparoscopic partial hysterectomy - a very difficult technique at that time.”

2 First Prizes for Science and Technology Innovation

During the process of performing laparoscopic surgery for patients, Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh realized a problem. That is, for patients with large specimens (for example, benign hysterectomy), it is very difficult to remove these specimens. District doctors generally need to enlarge the hole for inserting the laparoscopic instrument (on the patient's body) to remove the specimens. This enlargement is essentially no different from open surgery, causing the patient to have a long, painful scar and a long recovery time.

From the above shortcomings, Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh thought about the need for a specialized tool to cut and remove large-sized and mass specimens. Studying the market reality, he learned about the specialized equipment of the German endoscopic surgical equipment manufacturer Karl Storz. However, this genuine tool is very expensive, up to 500 million VND... Anh Son District Medical Center could not buy it.

Due to lack of funds, in the years 2014-2017, Dr. Khanh struggled to research and create a specimen cutter for endoscopic surgery. After hundreds of model tests and dozens of improvements, by 2019, Dr. Khanh had created and perfected a completely new specimen cutter, with a different operating principle, but with the same effect as the genuine instrument. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh said: "The finished machine only costs about 45 million VND, less than 1/10 of the genuine purchase price."

The Dr. Khanh specimen cutter has successfully solved the problem of removing large, benign specimens. The machine can be applied to most medical units, especially district-level medical facilities, which do not have the conditions to buy expensive specialized specimen machines. The advantages of the machine are that it runs very smoothly, is easier to operate, and has a beautiful appearance; grinds, cuts, and sucks at the right speed; the specimens are cut into long bars, removed very thoroughly and safely.

With the creation of "Dr Khanh's endoscopic surgical specimen cutter", Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh was awarded First Prize by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in the "Nghe An Province's Science and Technology Innovation in 2020". Dr. Khanh's endoscopic surgical specimen cutter has been granted an exclusive patent by the Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Science and Technology... It is known that currently, more than 20 hospitals in and outside the province have put "Dr. Khanh endoscopic surgical specimen cutter" into medical examination and treatment activities.

Also during the time of completing the "Dr. Khanh laparoscopic surgical specimen cutter", Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh also completed the specialist doctor program 2 and created the instrument "Dr. Khanh uterine support in laparoscopic hysterectomy". This new instrument helps surgeons easily identify and find the patient's uterus during the dissection into the uterus.

In particular, while the "Uterine support rod" of a foreign medical equipment manufacturer costs up to 120 million VND, the "Dr. Khanh's uterine support rod" costs about 6 million VND to produce. In addition, "Dr. Khanh's uterine support rod" has outstanding advantages over previously available instruments. With the work "Dr. Khanh's uterine support rod in laparoscopic hysterectomy surgery", Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh continues to be awarded the First Prize.Nghe An Province Science and Technology Innovation Award2023. Currently, Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh is completing the procedures to grant an exclusive patent as well as submit to the Ministry of Health to include this device in the medical category.

Discussing future plans for scientific and technological innovation, Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh shared: “When encountering problems and difficulties in medical examination and treatment techniques, I will definitely think of ways to solve them. Since the beginning of this year, I have been appointed as Director of the District Medical Center. With the new task, the immediate priority of the unit is to well deploy remote medical examination and treatment software, electronic payment, etc., contributing to promoting digital transformation and building a smart healthcare system”./.