Seven years ago, during an internship at the Center for Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery and Liver Transplantation under Hautepierre Hospital in Strasbourg, France, Tran Dinh Dung, a Vietnamese student from Hanoi Medical University, was amazed by the miraculous recovery of a 16-year-old patient with acute liver failure due to drug poisoning.

The patient was hospitalized in a coma, listed as a top-priority emergency case, and received a liver transplant just two days after hospitalization. About two weeks later, the patient had a good recovery. 

Impressed by the achievements of the medical center, Dung began dreaming of expanding the organ transplant program in Vietnam to give critically ill patients a second chance of life.

After a three-month internship, the student returned to Vietnam and began his residency training program at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, while joining organ transplant teams.

In November 2022, the student returned to France for further training on organ transplants. During the one year of staying in France, he worked at four leading organ transplantation centers in the country.

In 2024, Dung, who is now a master’s degree holder and doctor at VietDuc Frienship Hospital, participates in all organ transplant cases of the hospital. At some moments, he and his co-workers stay sleepless for two consecutive days and nights to take organs and transplant organs.

With such work, the surgeon says there are moments that are really memorable.

"That day, after transplant surgeries that lasted from morning till midnight, we just had 1.5 hours of rest before setting off for Nghe An, where we took organs from a brain-dead donor and brought them to the hospital to carry out organ transplant,” he recalled.

“The entire process went smoothly, which reminded me of the time of working in France. I believe that the gap between Vietnam and western countries in organ transplant is no longer wide,” Dung said.

Currently, the source of organs from brain dead donors in Vietnam remains modest, accounting for 5 percent of total transplantation cases. Dung hopes that in the future, with the participation of hospitals, medical units and other sectors, people will have more opportunities to access information about organ donation and transplantation.

More organ transplant opportunities 

Having worked for the Organ Transplantation Coordination Unit at Cho Ray Hospital for 10 years (2014-2024), Du Thi Ngoc Thu, head of the unit, said that Vietnam has made  big progress in organ donation and transplantation.

The number of registered organ donors has rapidly increased. Previously, there was only one officer in charge of on-site reception, but now, there are three officers and the workload is heavy.

“Vietnamese people’s thoughts about organ donation have changed a lot, especially young people. I know some young people who register to donate organs as soon as they turn 18 years old,” she noted.

However, the female doctor still feels regret that many people don’t know about their organ transplantation opportunities, or don’t have information about this. She hopes that more people have knowledge about transplantation and register to receive organs donated.

“In many cases, patients only come to see doctors when their conditions become serious. Many people hesitate to register health insurance because they don’t have money. Other refuse treatment because they don’t have money to pay for this,” she said.

She hopes that health insurance will cover 100 percent of costs for organ transplantation, and that patients can get jobs and earn money to treat their diseases and cover their basic needs in life.

To better coordinate organ transplantation, she hopes there will be a good procedure for receiving, selecting and coordinating organs.

“The Ministry of Health (MOH) is still working on a procedure which ensures harmonious cooperation among organ coordination centers throughout the country, hospitals and medical units,” she said. 

“It is expected that in the future the selection and coordination will be implemented automatically,” she said.

As of the beginning of 2024, Vietnam had conducted over 8,300 organ transplants, including more than 7,500 kidney transplants, more than 500 liver transplants, and 75 heart transplants. As many as 25 centers and units have been licensed to perform organ transplants.

Khanh Hoa