Project Overview
The Hospital
The An Giang Provincial Hospital serves 2,200,000 people. It is a large 900 bed hospital with 17 clinical wards and 5 para-clinical wards. The hospital has the following departments: Emergency, Critical Care/Intensive Care, Recuperation, Infectious Diseases, Traditional Medicine, Dermatology and Venerology, Tumor, Burn Center, Obstetrical, Pediatric, Tuberculosis and Eyes. The picture on the left shows the hospital entrance to the pediatric ward.
Hospital Geographic Coverage
This hospital services the Vietnamese people living in the Mekong Delta Region. All people in the Southern part of Vietnam have been exposed to herbicides and suffer from the results of the Vietnam War. The incidence of Retinoblastomas cancer is significantly higher than in other Asian countries. According to the hospital physicians, a major risk factor is gene disorders caused by herbicide residue from the War. Other risk factors are malnutrition, early termination of breast feeding, and infectious diseases during infancy.
Hospital Enhancement
In order for the hospital to accomplish its mission for better health care, the hospital must upgrade the Intensive Care/Critical Care Department of the hospital. They need equipment for a fully operational Intensive Care/Critical Care Department. Equipment needed includes ultrasounds, full perimeter GE 4000 monitors with Central Station, injection syringe pumps, infusion pumps, ventilators, dinamap step down monitors, aspirators, oxygen producing systems (series 5) and more. The equipment will be installed in the room pictured on the left.
Expected Health Care Improvement
The hospital will be better equipped to care for cardiac care diseases, infection and emergency and infant diseases. Of the top ten serious diseases that the hospital covers, cardiovascular disease ranks at the top followed by infant diseases including cancer. Other top diseases include digestive system, infection and parasitic diseases. Cardiovascular disease and strokes are at the top of the death statistics for the hospital. This project will provide additional monitors identical to the one shown on the right which has been delivered to the hospital.
Personnel Training and Equipment
This project funds and tasks Assist International to make these improvements to this hospital. The Project includes delivery of the equipment, installation of the equipment, training of the biomedical engineers, doctors and nurses and providing a one year warrantee of all equipment.
Implementation Team
AI has an incredible track record on installing hospital equipment in developing countries. The are providing a team of medical specialists to install the equipment and train the Vietnamese staff in the operation and maintenance of the equipment. The implementation team for the last project in Ho Chi Minh City on May 10, 2007 is shown in the photograph on the right. That team included equipment manufacture representatives, medical university instructors, and experienced installers from AI. Most of the individuals in the photo used personal vacation time to support this most valuable project.