Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem - "The pride of Vietnamese Pediatrics"

Editor's note: Hero of Labor, People's Physician, Professor, Doctor Nguyen Thanh Liem - Director of the National Children's Hospital is considered one of the leading pediatric surgeons in Asia, the pride of the Vietnamese Pediatrics industry. During his working trip to Nghe An, he had a short interview with Nghe An Newspaper.

- Professor, can you tell us some progress in child health care in our country today?

- It has eliminated many common diseases such as measles, polio, tetanus...; reduced the rate of malnutrition. In particular, it has applied many modern techniques in diagnosis and treatment such as liver transplant, kidney transplant, stem cell transplant, open heart surgery, cardiovascular intervention, saving the lives of tens of thousands of children with congenital heart disease who previously had no access to treatment. Vietnam is the leading country in the region in laparoscopic surgery in children; is a training center for many international surgeons...

- Could you please tell us about the content of this working trip to Nghe An? What is your assessment of the efforts of the Nghe An health sector in child health care?

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Liem (right) at the signing ceremony of cooperation with Vinh Medical University. Photo: Van Truong

- The delegation of the National Children's Hospital, including the Board of Directors and 18 officials who are leaders of departments, offices, doctors and nurses, visited and worked in Nghe An this time with the main purpose of signing a cooperation agreement on training with Vinh Medical University by sending officials of the National Children's Hospital and the Institute of Child Health Research to Nghe An to participate in teaching and receiving students of Vinh Medical University to practice at the National Children's Hospital. On this occasion, the delegation also worked with Nghe An Children's Hospital to evaluate the effectiveness of cooperation programs between the two hospitals and discuss cooperation programs in the future.

In recent times, Nghe An Children's Hospital has implemented many advanced techniques such as laparoscopic surgery, closed heart surgery, gastroscopy, etc. The Department of Health has focused on improving the quality of medical examination and treatment at lower-level medical facilities. A very exciting thing is that the establishment of Vinh Medical University will contribute to providing a team of doctors for Nghe An and the Central provinces, overcoming the current shortage of doctors and in the following years.

- Known as "The person who brings smiles to Vietnamese children", can you tell us about some important pediatric surgeries that you have directly performed?

- There are two profound memories for me. The first is the surgery to separate Cuc and An in 2003. They were conjoined twins from the navel to the chest, sharing a liver, small intestine, sternum, and pericardium. The surgery lasted 12 hours, and Cuc and An's father cried with joy when he was informed that the surgery was successful. Now the two children are in second grade. The second memory is the liver transplant surgery in 2007 for Ho Tuan Anh, 14 years old, from Quynh Luu, Nghe An. Tuan Anh was born into a family of 8 children, 7 of whom have died of liver failure. He himself had liver disease since he was 2 years old and had complications of chronic biliary cirrhosis and was indicated for a transplant. The surgery lasted 10 hours; now, 3 years later, his health is still progressing well.

- In the exchange between the Professor and students of Vinh Medical University, what is the main message that the Professor wants to convey to the students?

- With the title "Secrets to Success", I want to convey to the younger generation, especially students, the spirit of passion in learning, scientific research and creativity. To achieve goals, it is necessary to know how to overcome difficulties and obstacles. At the same time, I also want to send to medical students a passion for the profession and love for patients through examples of efforts in medicine in our country.

Good health and thank you Professor!

Dinh Sam (performed)