What difference did you make through your Sister Center partnership?
The SRC between CRH and Westmead Hospital (WH), Sydney started in 2012 and we graduated in 2018. The partnership brought the first transplant allocation unit of Vietnam at CRH in 2014, a new vascular department with vascular ultrasound mapping and vascular surgeons performing 1100 AVF cases per year. Thanks to this collaboration, we also improved the clinical skills of HD nurses, suppliers, water treatment and quality assessment, following training by WH. We are also able to perform the transplantation of other organs including liver, heart and cornea.
What does the future look like?
Since the end of our SRC in 2019, we have worked on the first regional transplant allocation of Ho Chi Minh City, a computer allocation program making organ allocation equitable, effective, and transparent, and a 24/7 mobile team for potential donors at provincial hospitals. We also have a weekly meeting of multidisciplinary teams for pre- and post- transplantation case discussion and regular ultrasound surveillance of AVF with timely intervention.