Vinh Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Center: Bringing hope to people with disabilities

(Baonghean) - For over 30 years, Vinh Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center has been the place where thousands of wounded soldiers, sick soldiers, and disabled people from Nghe An and many other provinces in the North Central region have placed their trust. This is also one of the trusted addresses that international organizations regularly choose to implement programs and charitable activities for poor children and children with disabilities.

Support for the less fortunate

About a month ago, joy came to Mr. Quang Van Sam in Chieng village, Chau Thon commune (Que Phong) when Quang Thi Hao - his granddaughter after a long time of disability, was successfully operated on through the support of an international organization at Vinh Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Center. Her father passed away before she was born; Hao and her mother lived with her grandparents. Life became even more difficult when she was not as lucky as other normal children, both her legs were disabled. At 7 months old, her grandfather and mother took Hao to the hospital, but after that time, due to poverty, Hao had no chance of treatment. Feeling sorry for her son who was about to enter first grade with deformed legs, Hao's mother had to send Hao to her grandparents for several years to work in the South to earn money to treat her son's legs. "When we heard that a group came to the school to examine and perform free surgery, the family was very happy. Now the child's legs are almost normal, his health is good, the family is very happy."

Examining patients before surgery. Photo: Thu Huong

Coming to Vinh Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Center, it is not difficult to encounter cases like Hao. Each person has a different situation, but the common point is that they are all in difficulty and have severe motor disabilities, mainly diseases such as deltoid fibrosis, burn sequelae, cerebral palsy, paralysis, sequelae of war, Agent Orange, sequelae of traffic accidents, work accidents... Currently, on average, the center treats and rehabilitates about 100 patients per day, of which more than 60% are children. Many patients with herniated discs, spinal degeneration, stiff joints after surgery... also improve and recover well through exercise. In addition, this is also a trusted address trusted by many international charities and organizes many free examinations and surgeries with a total amount of tens of billions of VND.

Vinh Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Center is also the only unit in Nghe An province and provinces from South Thanh Hoa to North Quang Binh that has been responsible for many years for visiting, examining, rehabilitating and fitting prosthetic legs for wounded soldiers.

Every year, the Center organizes free consultation and classification examinations for subjects at communes and schools with over 40,000 cases, orthopedic surgery for 400 - 500 cases, physical therapy and rehabilitation treatment for 3,000 patients, mainly war invalids, sick soldiers, people with meritorious services to the revolution, children with disabilities due to Agent Orange and other consequences left by the war...

After examination and screening, cases requiring treatment and orthopedic surgery are brought to the center for free treatment. For severe cases, the Center coordinates with domestic and foreign experts to achieve the best results for patients. All policy beneficiaries and disabled children who come to the Center for surgery, in addition to being completely free of charge, are also partially supported with food and transportation costs. In addition, policy beneficiaries are also fitted with assistive orthopedic devices such as splints, braces, shoes, slippers, etc. in accordance with the State's regulations.

Free surgery for children at Vinh Orthopedic Rehabilitation Center. Photo: Thu Huong

Towards Orthopedic Specialty Hospital -Rehabilitation

Vinh Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Center was established under Decision No. 386/TBXH dated November 8, 1985 of the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs and Decision No. 597 QD/UBND dated April 17, 1991 of the Provincial People's Committee. Accordingly, the center is under the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs of Nghe An with the main functions and tasks of treatment by Physical Therapy - Rehabilitation, Orthopedic Surgery; production and assembly of DCCH - artificial limbs for wounded soldiers, sick soldiers, people with revolutionary contributions, and people with social disabilities in the North Central region. In 2005, with a scale of 80 beds, including 50 inpatient beds and 30 outpatient beds, the center was ranked by the Provincial People's Committee as equivalent to a grade 3 hospital.

During more than 30 years of development, the Center has received investment from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Provincial People's Committee in modern and spacious facilities and equipment. The Center also pays great attention to training and retraining domestic and foreign staff to improve their professional qualifications and skills to meet the increasing demands of patients and subjects.

Currently, the center has 40 staff members, including 6 doctors and 8 staff members with university and college degrees in Physical Therapy - Rehabilitation, 1 doctor studying in a specialized class 1 in Internal Medicine, 11 people with university degrees in other majors...

Every year, the center also regularly coordinates to transfer advanced techniques and exchange professional expertise with experts in the field of Orthopedics - Rehabilitation at home and abroad such as the American Offline Prosthetics Organization, the American Society of Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Surgery, the Dutch Organization for Surgical Support for Disabled Children in Vietnam, the Australian Organization for Giving a Hand of Hope, experts from the National Institute of Burns, Hanoi Medical University, Saint Paul Hospital Hanoi, STO Phuong Dong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City...

Recently, in response to the increasing demand for treatment from patients, the Center has continuously improved and applied new scientific and technological advances in rehabilitation treatment, orthopedic surgery, production of prosthetic legs and arms and assistive devices. Thanks to that, many high-tech techniques have been applied at the Center such as: Laser treatment of spinal diseases by stretching techniques; ultrasound, electric pulse, shortwave, thermotherapy...

Checking and consulting patients after surgery. Photo: My Ha

This success is also the basis for the Center to develop a plan to convert the medical operation model of the centers to the hospital model. This is also the common model of many other units nationwide when 5 Centers have successfully converted into Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Hospitals and 7 centers are in the process of conversion and all of these centers belong to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. Particularly for Vinh Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Center, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has issued Document No. 3560/LDTBH agreeing in principle to convert into Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Hospital under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Talking about this policy, Dr. Nguyen Minh Cong - Director of Vinh Orthopedic - Rehabilitation Center said: "Over the years, in parallel with professional tasks, the center has also been an address to attract domestic and foreign resources to support and help poor disabled people and poor children, policy beneficiaries to do a good job of social security. With the above important function, when the center is converted into a hospital, it will be a very important condition for the unit to develop plans and directions of activities to attract human resources and have conditions to strengthen facilities and link and cooperate with specialized units and organizations at home and abroad, at the same time improving professional skills for staff. The conversion into a specialized hospital is an inevitable trend, suitable for current conditions in health care for wounded soldiers, sick soldiers, people with meritorious services, people with disabilities, especially poor disabled people, remote areas; at the same time reducing the burden on upper-level hospitals".

My Ha - Thu Huong