Smart health in Thanh An island commune

The first medical station to apply AI

Receive news from Nguyen Thi D. (94 years old) suddenly showed signs of shortness of breath, Doctor Luan Thanh Truong, Head of Health Station of Thanh An commune, Can Gio district rushed to the patient’s house to check.

Noticed the lungs of D. Doctor Truong immediately took him to the station to take an X-ray. The results showed that the patient had pleural effusion and had to move immediately to the mainland to go to Can Gio District Hospital. After that, Mr. D. continued to be transferred to Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital for treatment due to signs of pulmonary embolism. “The X-ray results help us to identify the situation and quickly decide to send the patient to the upper level for timely treatment,” said Doctor Truong.

Similarly, Mr. VVD (71 years old) also had chest X-ray because he was coughing up blood. Doctor Pham Hai Viet Ty, a young doctor, has just been rotated to Thanh An Commune Health Station to read the image results and determine that the patient has a collapsed lung segment, pleural effusion. The image is quickly transferred to a specialist at the upper level to advise the most appropriate treatment direction.

X-ray system can be considered as the most valuable asset of Thanh An Commune Health Station from November 18, when it was officially applied. Because this is an X-ray machine with integrated artificial intelligence (AI) software that helps detect 95 abnormal signs within 10 seconds, and is connected to an image storage and transmission system.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City, this is the first medical station in the country to successfully deploy the application of artificial intelligence in X-ray imaging. lung. As a result, patients are quickly and accurately diagnosed, treated with the right regimen instead of having to go to the mainland for examination as before.

Notably, this artificial intelligence application is the work of two scientists born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City for the island commune. Currently, the authors are living in Australia.

“The people of Thanh An island commune are very happy, the doctors and nurses are also assured because they are supported with modern equipment to take care of patients,” said the head of the Thanh An Commune Health Station.

Building and developing grassroots health care in island communes

Thanh An commune health station is the furthest station of Ho Chi Minh City. From the city center, cross the Binh Khanh ferry and then continue on the nearly 40km-long Rung Sac road to the center of Can Gio district. From here, it takes about 7km by boat to reach the island commune.

Doctor Luan Thanh Truong has worked for the past 17 years at Thanh An Commune Health Station. He said that in the past, there was only one means of emergency treatment for patients, a boat, which took about 45 minutes to travel to the mainland. Later, the station was supported with canoes. However, nighttime emergency trips always have the potential for rainstorms, damage, and unexpected incidents. “Over the past 10 years, I have been the only organic doctor on the island. Sometimes, when this case was not finished, I heard the staff reported that there was another case. Human resources and machinery are not enough, so it is difficult to take care of people’s health completely,” said Doctor Truong.

In order to strengthen the human resources for Thanh An Commune Health Station, 4 young doctors from hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City rotated to work here for a limited time. They are also the force operating the imaging process using artificial intelligence technology to serve the islanders.

“With the support from artificial intelligence technology, along with on-site capacity and remote consultation, the quality of comprehensive health care for people in the most remote medical station in the city will be better.” , Associate Professor – Dr. Tang Chi Thuong expected.

As planned, the health sector of Ho Chi Minh City will continue to deploy a remote consultation system, connecting doctors in island communes with specialist doctors at the city’s last line; implementing electronic health records for all island commune people. In the future, Thanh An will be able to set up a 115 marine emergency station and build a more spacious and modern medical station.

Giao Linh

(Posted in the Vietnam Post newspaper, issue of Xuan Quy Mao 2023)