On 8th of January, Professor Sanjeev Arora – the founder and executive director of Project ECHO, University of New Mexico, USA and the delegation visited Vietnam National Children’s Hospital and discuss the project in the period from 2024 to 2026, especially in the field of children’s cancer.
Speaking at the meeting, PhD.MD.Phan Huu Phuc – Deputy Director of Vietnam National Children’s Hospital has highly appreciated the support of the ECHO for many years. He said: “Cancer has always been a major health issue in Vietnam since it is a very complicated and serious disease. At the moment, the rate of cancer in children is increasing. Meanwhile, capacity and facility of Vietnam health system are still limited. As a leading hospital in Vietnam, we have been assigned by the Ministry of Health to support provincial hospital in the field of pediatric medical examination and treatment and especially the ECHO model. Therefore, Vietnam National Children’s Hospital wishes to cooperate with the ECHO on enhancing human resources and supporting lower-level hospitals in 2024. We hope that ECHO will accompany and support us on technology, upgrading facilities to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment for children with cancer in Vietnam.”
PhD.MD.Phan Huu Phuc – Deputy Director of Vietnam National Children’s Hospital speaking at the meeting
“Chemical treatment for pediatric cancer patients is risky, and it is not easy to control the symptoms of cancer in children. I hope that the ECHO will have specific training programs and channels for pediatricians in this field. Currently, we have a network of Pediatric Oncology Unit under the management of Vietnam Pediatric Association to discuss and share experiences in diagnosis and treatment and participate in international training programs. However, online training in English by international experts is still limited for doctors at the provincial level”, PhD.MD.Bui Ngoc Lan added.
PhD.MD.Bui Ngoc Lan – Director of Cancer Center – Vietnam National Children’s Hospital make a presentation of proposals to ECHO on training and improving capacity to treat childhood cancer
To understand the challenges in childhood cancer in Vietnam, Professor Sanjeev Arora – the director of the ECHO Institute affirmed that the ECHO will make every effort to support NCH and the Ministry of Health to improve quality of treatment and care for children with cancer. Specifically, the professor gave some possible directions for cooperation in the future, including:
- Develop cancer training programs for pediatricians, and provide specialized nursing training in pediatric cancer care;
- Connect NCH with the ECHO superhubs in India and the United States for online training in oncology. Send experts to Vietnam for direct training on content related to iECHO, zoom, ECHO platform;
- Training sessions will take place at the superhub, Vietnam National Children’s Hospital. The ECHO will require the Ministry of Health to send an official dispatch to hospitals that want to participate in the ECHO model. When hospitals begin to implement the ECHO model and become hubs, the ECHO will support NCH in accessing the data of the hubs to be able to manage and coordinate most effectively;
- Develop a training program for doctors at Vietnam National Children’s Hospital after completing their studies and returning to serve provincial hospitals, so that they can become experts in the provinces in treatment. It will reduce the burden on NCH.
Professor Sanjeev Arora – The director of the ECHO Institute speaking at the program
Hopefully, the two sides will cooperate actively, openly, and sustainably to have can achieve high results in the health care of Vietnamese children.
Representatives of the National Children’s Hospital and ECHO
On the morning of 8th January, at the headquarter of the Ministry of Health, Professor Dr. Tran Van Thuan – Deputy Minister of Health welcomed the ECHO delegation. The Deputy Minister highly appreciated ECHO’s coordinated activities, especially cooperation related to capacity building for Ministry of Health officials through the ECHO distance learning model (coordinated with the Department of Medical Examination and Health Management); training model for district-level medical staff in diagnosing and treating drug-resistant tuberculosis, preventing, screening, diagnosing and treating pediatric diseases; program applied in HIV treatment guidelines; epidemic response models and treatment methods for specific chronic diseases in the locality…
Deputy Minister of Health, Vietnam National Children’s Hospital and the at the headquarter of the Ministry of Health
“In 2019, Vietnam National Children’s Hospital became an ECHO Center. By 2022, it will become a super center with the same mission and vision as ECHO in the community health care strategy, creating equality in children’s health care in all regions, especially in remote areas, ethnic minorities, underdeveloped areas…” – Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan said.
| Project ECHO (Extension Community healthcare outcomes) is a project aimed at improving community health through training to improve professional capacity in an online format. Currently, there are 195 countries, 6 continents with nearly 1,000 hubs and superhubs (academic centers or super centers) participating, using the tele-ECHO model. |
