S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital: Where Patients Fully Trust

The S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital (Stroke International Services Hospital) has examined and treated more than 50,000 patients (nearly half related to stroke and cardiovascular diseases) just since beginning operation on February 20, 2019. The S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital treats not only stroke patients but also patients carrying other diseases like musculoskeletal surgery, congenital heart, cancer and arrhythmias. Hence, people in the Mekong River Delta are increasingly confident in the hospital.

Not only savior for stroke patients

Dr. Tran Chi Cuong, Director of S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital, said, the health sector has strongly developed machine technology, treatment techniques and protocols to give people with better medical care, and handle many diseases once considered ‘incurable’ like stroke in recent years. In the past, stoke was called apoplexy that resulted in lifetime consequences or even death. Current medicine clearly explains that stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted or reduced, preventing brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients.  Brain cells begin to die in minutes without oxygen and nutrients. Then, doctors can treat it by placing tiny catheters in the lumen of the blood vessel to find the place where the vessel is blocked or clotted.

Also according to experts, stroke sufferers need prompt emergency services, otherwise they are highly likely to suffer immobility or even death because of dead brain cells. With a population of 17 million, the Mekong Delta has more than 10,000 strokes a year and patients are often referred to medical facilities in Ho Chi Minh City. Due to geographic distance and traffic difficulty, more than 90% of stroke patients are brought to medical facilities in a "6-hour golden time" for the most effective treatment.

From the above difficulties and scientific and technological advances, S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital is a top-tier intensive stoke treatment facility in Can Tho City, the capital of the Mekong Delta, thus opening up new opportunities for local people. Costing VND500 billion, construction of the 200-bed hospital commenced on July 20, 2017, and it was put into full operation only 18 months later, starting from January 2019. With S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital, there is no longer a need for ambulance trips to transport stroke patients from the Mekong Delta to Ho Chi Minh City, and thus thousands of lives will be saved each year and serious stroke consequences avoided “because two million nerve cells are lost each minute,” said Dr. Cuong. Established from urgent social need, S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital has become a savior for millions of Mekong Delta people. In fact, after 18 months of operation, it has successfully treated more than 20,000 stroke patients, even hopeless cases.

Mekong Delta people have urgent needs for not only stroke treatment but also other diseases due to inadequate medical facilities. Seeing this, the leadership of S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital proposed and got licensed for deploying many at specialist medical services that remained undeveloped in the Mekong Delta such as high-tech musculoskeletal surgery, congenital heart intervention, early cancer diagnosis, cardiac arrhythmia treatment with high-frequency electrosurgery. With serious and methodical investment conducted by top-notch specialist doctors, S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital not only saves stroke patients, but also treats other diseases as trusted by its patients.

Good personnel with good equipment

Up to now, it can be affirmed that S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital is one of the well-equipped medical facilities in the Mekong Delta, having even some equipment and machinery unseen elsewhere in the country. With 13,000 square meters of floor on 10 floors, the hospital is furnished with equipment such as sophisticated ultrasound apparatus for congenital heart diagnosis, 128-slice CT scanner, two MRI 3 Tesla scanners, two DSA scanners, the first to be installed in Asia, MRI Lumina 3Tesla screeners of tumors and stroke, world-class modern hybrid operating theaters equipped with versatile C-Arm microscopes, Monitor central systems for 24 hour patient tracking, digital switchboard stroke emergency call center, ambulance equipped with full heart-shock defibrillators and ambulance used as a mobile emergency room. Recently, on August 12, 2020, the hospital installed the latest two-surface DSA Icono Artis angiography system with a lot of outstanding features, the first hospital in Vietnam and Asia to use this system to achieve breakthroughs in stroke and cardiovascular interventions and optimize all DSA and CT functions, ready to be connected with future vascular intervention robots. This will be a training center for domestic and foreign vascular interventions.

Not only completing investment in infrastructure, medical machinery, and equipment, S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital is staffed by core experts, leading physicians who serve as senior advisors and appointed doctors. In addition to sophisticated expertise and modern machinery, the hospital offers many special features: Leading hospital to build an animal test laboratory where doctors can practice a technique before it is applied to save people or using boats to provide water-based emergency aid for patients in the Mekong Delta.

Besides its core function of patient treatment, the hospital also trains specialized health workers and provides research and education services, especially in stroke diagnosis and treatment, thanks to its international cooperation with top hospitals and universities in the world like Erlanger Stroke Hospital (USA), Tennessee College of Medicine, Medicine Faculty - University of Toronto, Canada, Mahidol University Thailand, European Stroke Organization, and World Federation of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology (WFITN). For that reason, S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital is expected to be the center of intensive practice training for domestic and foreign hospitals, organizer of international and regional conferences and seminars.

The name of S.I.S Can Tho International Hospital is becoming increasingly known to many more domestic and foreign patients seeking effective examination and treatment. Vietnamese patients do not need to go abroad for high-cost health check-ups. Dr. Cuong revealed that stroke treatment or cardiovascular treatment requires a long hospitalization. Currently, the hospital, although it is a 10-storey facility, is still crowded and with an increasing number of patients. Therefore, in the coming time, we do not know how to manage to provide the best services. So, we hope that the Can Tho government will consider our proposal for more space for expansion of specialties and inpatient treatment areas.

He also expressed concerned that every year, the country has more than 50,000 stroke patients but current health facilities fail to meet public demands. Currently, along with technical transfer cooperation with other medical facilities, we are planning to invest in SIS-model hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Thuan, Da Nang, Hanoi and other localities and looking forward to receiving the attention and cooperation and conditions of investors and local authorities.

Source: Vietnam Business Forum