During the 3 days from September 11 to 13, Hoan My Cuu Long Hospital in collaboration with VinaCapital Foundation and the Association for the Support of People with Disabilities and Victims of Agent Orange in Tra Vinh province organized a free congenital heart disease screening program with the message "Let your child have a heart check-up at least once in their life".
The program is held in Cang Long, Duyen Hai, and Tra Cu districts of Tra Vinh province. The total budget for this program is expected to be about 850 million VND, supporting medical examinations for 1,500 children.
This morning alone (September 11), doctors examined 250 cases; including 2 abnormal cases, 1 atrial septal defect, and 1 ventricular septal defect.
According to Dr. Tran Phuoc Hoa - Head of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery - Thoracic - Cardiac Resuscitation (Hoan My Cuu Long Hospital), in the past, the hospital has successfully intervened and treated many cases of congenital heart disease. However, there are cases that are detected late, leading to serious illness, past the golden time for intervention, making treatment even more difficult.
According to MSc., Dr. Quach Tan Dat - Deputy Head of the Department of Cardiology - Endovascular Intervention (Hoan My Cuu Long Hospital), parents need to pay attention to some signs of suspected congenital heart disease such as: newborns have difficulty breathing, rapid breathing, little or intermittent feeding; children a few months old have frequent coughs and wheezing; children are slow to develop physically, pale, sweaty, cold hands and feet; lips, fingertips, toes turn purple and increase when the child cries...
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, every year in Vietnam, 8,000 - 10,000 children are born with congenital heart disease, of which up to 50% of children with serious illness come from poor families.
