In the letter, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan wrote:
"I am very happy and proud to know that on May 28, 2025, a team of doctors, nurses, technicians with high professional capacity and a lot of experience from Children's Hospital 1 and Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City closely coordinated and successfully implemented the 9th fetal heart intervention.
In particular, this pregnant woman is a Singaporean, a 25-week pregnant woman, weighing less than 600g but having a rare birth defect, introduced by Singaporean health experts to Vietnam for intervention.
fetal heart intervention techniques are new and complex techniques, not only requiring extensive professional knowledge and sophisticated techniques, but also posing strict requirements for multidisciplinary coordination, professional ethics and courage in making life-and-death decisions for two lives: mother and child.
Currently, this technique has only been successfully implemented in a few countries in the world with specialized and developed healthcare systems. In particular, this case is a citizen from Singapore, a country with a developed medical foundation in the region.
The fact that Vietnamese doctors have successfully approached, mastered and applied this technique is a clear demonstration of the increasingly strong endogenous capacity of the country's medicine. This is not only a medical technical achievement but also a success that touches profound human values, when the very fragile seeds within the boundaries of life have been held by the hands, mind, passion and intelligence of doctors like mother Hien.
This achievement not only brings hope to thousands of pregnant women and their families, but also opens up a new direction in diagnosing and treating complex diseases right from the fetal period - an important step for the Vietnamese health sector to deeply integrate with world medicine.
On behalf of the Ministry of Health's leaders, I acknowledge, commend and highly appreciate the efforts, breakthroughs, and technical professional development of leaders, doctors, technicians, nurses, staff of Children's Hospital 1, Tu Du Hospital and the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health.
The successful implementation of fetal heart intervention techniques opens up many prospects for the development of high techniques and specialized techniques in medical examination and treatment, creating trust, image and international prestige for the country's health sector.
I believe that you will continue to promote the successful steps you have achieved, constantly study and research, improve your professional qualifications and skills; promote medical ethics and the good qualities of Vietnamese doctors; continue the aspiration to contribute and the strength of Vietnamese knowledge in the new era, the era of the country's rise".
Previously, on May 28, fetal intervention experts from Tu Du Hospital coordinated with pediatric cardioversion experts from Children's Hospital 1 to successfully intervene in a case of complex congenital heart disease in a 25-week fetus of a Singaporean mother.
Accordingly, the mother was discovered by KK Women's and Children's Hospital (Singapore) to have a placental plaque of nolarlar valve - a rare case of congenital heart deformities. After the discovery, Singaporean doctors at KK Hospital assessed that the fetus was at high risk of dying in the uterus and introduced the patient to Ho Chi Minh City for treatment.
The mother went to Children's Hospital 1 to assess the fetal congenital heart abnormality. After that, the fetal intervention and congenital heart intervention teams of Children's Hospital 1 and Tu Du Hospital consulted remotely with leading experts from Australia and France, and finally agreed to diagnose and need early intervention to save the fetus.
The time of fetal intervention was very young (22 weeks old, weighed 600 grams) and the medical condition was particularly severe.
The crew conducted the first intervention on May 22, but were unsuccessful.
By May 28, after careful preparation and close coordination between specialties, the second intervention was a great success.
