Bui Van Nam, the first heart-transplant patient in Vietnam, could sit up on his bed to talk with Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu on June 24.

The patient met with Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu on June 24.

“The patient has fully recovered one week after surgery. He can walk, eat, sleep and the new heart has been completely integrated into his body,” detailed Dr. Hoang Manh An, Director of the Army Hospital 103, to Minister Trieu.

Dr. An went on to explain that this surgery is a result of a long period of preparation, including hundreds of experimental operations on pigs, experiences in other countries and preparing technical conditions.

More than 10 patients are now on the waiting list for heart transplants at the hospital, having been examined and tested already.

Minister Trieu congratulated the Army Hospital 103 surgeons. He asserted that Vietnam will build a viscera transplant coordinating centre.

Vietnamese doctors have mastered transplant techniques, so now the major obstacle for patients is the lack of donor hearts.

PV