Orthopedic specialist Dr. Vo Van Thanh has a long list of scientific achievements to his credit. But despite his hectic schedule he finds time to write poetry and dabble in photography.
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You have headed several international and national medical associations for many years, organised several international symposiums, are actively involved in major national healthcare projects and are credited with 73 scientific research projects. Amidst all this work, I hear that you are preparing to publish a collection of poems. How do you manage this?
I started writing poems long time ago, but my poems are not great works. They record memorable moments in my life. An old friend recommended that I should publish the collection this year. But it is taking longer because my daughter, a perfectionist, wants a work without defects.
Physicians are actually a remarkable group of writers, painters and singers. There is an elite roster of physician-writers for readers to enjoy. Dr Do Hong Ngoc and Nguyen Chan Hung come immediately to mind.
If the business of medicine is taking care of patients, doctors spend a good chunk of their professional lives listening to stories. They witness the struggle of disease, death, and suffering all the time. Writing helps them get things off their chest, and allows them an opportunity to commemorate patients and colleagues. Their literary accomplishments are even more impressive given the lack of formal training in the art of writing.
Do you consider yourself lucky in your career?
I do not call it luck, but fate.
I was born to a poor family with eight children. My parents had to work hard to make ends meet, but they never allowed us to give up our studies in the hope of a turnaround (in our fortunes).
My faculty was mathematics, but I passed with high scores into the biological faculty at university. I graduated after seven years of study, and worked for the Binh Dan Hospital, then the Hospital for Trauma Orthopedics.
In 1988, I attended two refresher courses under the instruction of professors Claude Argenson and Dominique Poitout in one year in two large provinces in southern France, Nice and Marseille.
When I attended a similar course in Nice in 1992, I got the certificate of Chef de Clinic from the French Minister of Education. Generally, it takes five years of work as a permanent doctor to be allowed to take an exam of the University of Medicine and get this certification.
How do our orthopedic and spinal care departments compare with the rest of the world?
There are currently three modern kinds of orthopedic surgery: spinal surgery; arthroscopy (endoscopic surgery) of knee, hip, and shoulder joints; and arthroplasty (joint replacement) of knee, hip and shoulder joints.
The technology is developing quickly and Vietnamese physicians are good at increasing their knowledge constantly thanks to numerous international scientific seminars in Viet Nam, bringing the country closer to the standard of developed countries.
We have established a nationwide training center for the knee, hip and shoulder joints in Ha Noi, a similar one for endoscopic surgery in Hue, and one for spinal surgery in HCM City. With these three training centers, our orthopedic care will develop to reach international academic standards.
That is the human resources part for orthopedic surgery. But if you have a chance to visit the Spinal Surgery Department A, you’ll see our conditions for scientific research are poor and equipment is in short supply.
It is high time that Viet Nam has a specialist hospital on spinal problems to take care of patients. A spinal surgery in America or Singapore costs from US$100,000 to US$350,000, much more than in Viet Nam where it would range from $4,000 to $5,000. But, Viet Nam’s spine specialists can match nearly all that their peers in developed countries can do.
Despite this, each year, there are a lot of Vietnamese having their spinal surgery and medical care done in Singapore, bringing in around $700 million a year.
Thus, if the State invests in a spinal care hospital we will avoid a lot of foreign currency loss.
What changes would you propose to improve medical courses in our country?
We should change the education programme to correspond with the world, and shorten the time of postgraduate training for specialized doctors to 4-5 years, instead of 10-20 years it takes here.
In developed countries, an orthopedics doctor - specialist can wield the surgeon’s knife at the age of 28-30, while the average age in Viet Nam is 40-50.
In countries like France, America and even Thailand, specialist training for doctors only takes 4-5 years. Our training time is too long and could limit the doctors’ motivation and waste our medical talent. Doctors who earn their first level of specialization at 40 give up on the next level because they have to earn money for their family.
Right now, we have just 100 doctors following postgraduate training to specialise in orthopedics. This number plus around 600 undergraduate students is still small in comparison with other countries.
Thailand has 1,500 specialised orthopedic surgeons to take care of a population of 60 million people. Korea with 40 million people has 4,500 specialised orthopedic surgeons. The number is 24,000 in Japan – a country with the population of a little more than Viet Nam of around 127 million people.
Spinal surgeries are very expensive and beyond the reach of many people in the country. How can they be helped?
To equip more doctors with the required skills and knowledge, I will hold a seminar and training course in HCM city on December 4 and in Nha Trang City on December 5 with the attendance of the presidents of Asia Pacific Spine Society and North America Spine Society.
Before the seminar, the Spine Society of HCM City will offer much-needed corrective surgery for around 30 poor patients with scoliosis at the city’s Hospital for Orthopedic Trauma from November 30 to December 3.
This activity has been happening since 2006, providing free surgeries for poor patients worth over $900,000.
Besides, the Spinal Surgery Department A has treated over 100 patients with spinal injuries for free or reduced fees with the financial help at nearly $20,000 per year from the HCM City’s Sponsoring Association for Poor Patients.
What are some of the recent major developments in your field of work?
Last month, I attended the Bone and Joint Decade World Network Conference 2001-2010 in the US.
This is a very important event launched in 2000 with the support of former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. This year’s conference in Washington DC was joined by delegates from 56 nations including policy makers, doctors, researchers, NGOs and advocates.
Next year will be the end of the first decade of action. The conference focused on musculoskeletal disorders which are the leading cause of disability around the world affecting one in every two people and accounting for 25 per cent of the total cost of treatment. We discussed a roadmap for the future of bone and joint health in the US and the world for the coming decade.
VNN/VNS
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