Nghe An General Hospital: Deserving to be the final specialized unit of the North Central region

In-depth development

Nghe An General HospitalThe predecessor was Vinh Hospital, established on September 18, 1918 (According to Official Gazette No. 7B of the Governor-General of Indochina in 1923). After the August Revolution in 1945, the hospital was renamed Ho Chi Minh Hospital... After many ups and downs throughout history, in 1997, the hospital was officially named Nghe An General Hospital. After more than 100 years of formation and development, with continuous efforts and efforts through many periods, the hospital has achieved many remarkable achievements. Among them: In 2009, Nghe An General Hospital was recognized as meeting the standards of a Grade I Hospital in 2009.

Nghe An General Hospital in the early days. Photo: Archive

Not satisfied with themselves, over the years, all leaders, officers and employees of the hospital have constantly strived to develop the hospital in all aspects. Regarding training to improve the quality of human resources, the hospital always considers this a top priority task, so it regularly sends officers to study and train at major hospitals and universities in the country and internationally. In addition to improving professional qualifications, the hospital also focuses on training management skills, political theory, foreign languages, etc. to build a team of officers who are both red and professional.

During the period 2015 - 2020, the hospital sent 5,877 cadres, civil servants and employees for training, of which 251 received postgraduate training... Not only sending cadres for training, the Hospital is also a trusted address for training and fostering cadres for the Nghe An health sector.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long visits a kidney transplant patient at Nghe An General Hospital. Photo: Archive

Regarding the line-level guidance work, by 2020, the hospital has carried out line-level guidance work for 20 districts and towns in the whole province, successfully transferring many specialized techniques. Nghe An General Hospital is the core hospital of 15 satellite hospital units, undertaking the transfer of 11 techniques to lower levels. The hospital also cooperates and has professional contracts with a number of medical examination and treatment facilities and units in the region such as: Ha Tinh Provincial General Hospital; Military Hospital 4; Vinh Transport Hospital; Nghi Son Industrial Park - Thanh Hoa; Formosa Ha Tinh Industrial Park; Saigon Beer Company North Central Coast...

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien guides the implementation of in vitro fertilization techniques at Nghe An General Hospital. Photo: Archive

At the same time, Nghe An General Hospital has regularly and proactively received technology transfer from major and leading hospitals such as: Viet Duc Hospital, Bach Mai Hospital, Hanoi Cardiovascular Hospital, Cho Ray Hospital, Tu Du Hospital, Central Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital, Central ENT Hospital... creating conditions for developing technical expertise, improving the effectiveness of medical examination and treatment.

Leaders of the Provincial General Hospital work with the Polish Embassy. Photo: Archive

In addition, in recent times, the Provincial General Hospital has also demonstrated a great role in the "friendly relations" with Laos. Specifically, the hospital has been active in training and improving the professional qualifications of the medical staff of Xieng Khouang Provincial General Hospital; sending 15 highly qualified doctors to directly treat the people of the neighboring country. And up to now, Xieng Khouang Provincial General Hospital has mastered many important and basic techniques, contributing to improving the quality of medical examination, treatment and health care for the people of Laos.

Welcoming the first child born through IVF in Nghe An. Photo courtesy

In the recent period, the hospital has always paid attention to international cooperation. In addition to maintaining and promoting good relations with the Embassy and the Government of Poland, the hospital has also had many cooperation programs on training, technical development as well as medical examination and treatment with countries such as the United States, Belgium, Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan... thereby improving the quality of scientific research and professional development in all aspects.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huong presents flowers to congratulate the first patient with stem cell transplant for blood cancer treatment. Photo: Thanh Cuong

At the Provincial General Hospital, scientific research is a consistent strategy to improve medical knowledge and improve the quality of medical examination and treatment at the hospital. From 2015 to 2020, the Hospital had 275 research topics and scientific initiatives, many of which won high-level provincial and national awards; many articles were published in prestigious domestic and international specialized scientific journals.

Robotic Spinal Surgery at Huu Tho Hospital Nghe An General Hospital. Photo: Document

From training activities, technology transfer, equipment procurement to cooperation, scientific research... the professional development work of Nghe An General Hospital has achieved many important achievements. The specialties of Surgery, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology have become strong. Many specialized departments have been established and developed, regularly implementing difficult techniques, leading specialized techniques.

Nghe An General Hospital performs kidney transplant for patient. Photo: Document

Currently, the Hospital's Internal Medicine Department has performed 86.9% of the total list of current techniques at the Central level. The Hospital's Surgery - Obstetrics and Gynecology Department has performed 91.6% of the total list of current techniques at the Central level. In addition, the Hospital has also successfully performed many special and advanced techniques such as: kidney transplant, stem cell transplant, robotic surgery, vascular intervention, endoscopic surgery, etc.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung and provincial leaders presented flowers to congratulate Nghe An General Hospital on being recognized as a facility qualified for kidney transplant. Photo: Archive

As of early 2021, Nghe An General Hospital was assigned 1,700 planned hospital beds, providing medical examination and treatment for people in the province, neighboring areas and Laos. The hospital has a team of highly qualified staff with more than 1,736 officers; more than 440 types of specialized medical equipment, including many high-tech and modern equipment that meet the functions and tasks of the North Central region's final-level general hospital... Every day, the hospital examines 1,600 - 2,000 patients; inpatient treatment of 2,400 - 2,700 patients/day; and performs surgery on 80 - 120 cases.

Take it to the next level

With high determination and synchronous investment throughout the development process, Nghe An General Hospital has been recognized by the Minister of Health and assigned the task of being the final line of technical expertise in medical examination and treatment in the North Central region in Decision No. 1670/QD-BYT dated March 25, 2021. This is a proud honor for the Nghe An health sector in general and all officers, civil servants and employees of Nghe An General Hospital in particular.

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee visited, worked and presented gifts to the staff of the Provincial General Hospital. Photo: Archive

However, being recognized as the final hospital of the North Central region is also a new turning point with many great and challenging responsibilities; requiring Nghe An General Hospital to continue to develop continuously to be worthy of new heights. Dr. Pham Hong Phuong - Deputy Director of Nghe An General Hospital said: In the coming time, the Hospital will promote the improvement of service quality, focus on developing hospital management, all towards patient satisfaction, according to the motto "Top quality - In-depth development - reaching new heights"...

Specifically, in terms of professional development, the Provincial General Hospital focuses on mobilizing all resources to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment; deploying many new techniques, many advanced techniques for all specialties, including new specialties; simultaneously developing the testing, paraclinical and diagnostic imaging systems... creating synchronous development throughout the hospital.

Cerebrovascular intervention at the Provincial General Hospital. Photo courtesy

Regarding training and guidance work, the hospital focuses on establishing and building a strong Training and Guidance Center capable of performing tasks in the new period, not only doing a good job of training and guiding line staff in the province and in the region, but also strengthening cooperation with hospitals, universities, and medical organizations in the region and the world. The hospital also promotes the training of multi-disciplinary and multi-specialty specialists in parallel with the training of PhDs, CKII doctors, and CKII pharmacists to improve the qualifications of the human resources team, both ensuring good professional tasks and fulfilling the responsibility of being a core hospital transferring techniques to satellite units according to the decision of the Ministry of Health.

Nghe An General Hospital supports technology transfer to Xieng Khouang Provincial Hospital - Laos in 2018. Photo courtesy

At the same time, Nghe An General Hospital continues to effectively implement the Project "Building and developing satellite hospitals in the period of 2019 - 2025" of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee; training, supporting and transferring high and specialized techniques to provincial general hospitals and provincial specialized hospitals of the North Central provinces; training, directing the line, providing professional support to the Health sector of Xieng Khouang province - Laos and expanding to other provinces of Laos such as Bolikhamxay, Kham Muon, ...

In scientific research, the hospital will improve the quality and quantity of scientific research works as well as publish them in domestic journals; develop scientific research work at all levels, especially ministerial and state-level scientific research works; strive to have 2-3 scientific articles published in foreign journals each year.

Nghe An General Friendship Hospital. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The provincial General Hospital will also focus on purchasing modern, high-tech, specialized equipment in the world to meet the needs of professional development, such as 512-slice CT scanners, 512-slice MRI systems, robotic surgical equipment; regularly maintain and repair, and at the same time develop and adjust the overall hospital development plan to have enough spacious, modern and well-equipped facilities to best serve the work of medical examination, treatment and health care for people in the North Central region.

The Party Committee, leaders and all cadres, civil servants and employees of the hospital are determined to devote all their efforts, intelligence, enthusiasm and aspirations to perform well the tasks of the final hospital in the North Central region. Performing well the tasks will bring many benefits to patients. Patients will be treated by a team of good doctors; use modern facilities and infrastructure, and ensure service quality... Nghe An General Hospital is the final hospital of the North Central region but is still under the Nghe An Department of Health, so the health insurance policy is still guaranteed as it is currently. In addition, patients in the provinces of the North Central region are also guaranteed good health care and health insurance like patients in Nghe An province.

Dr. Pham Hong Phuong - Deputy Director of Nghe An General Hospital