The Medical Brains

There are two groups of doctors, inventors and practitioners. The vast majority of us are not in the first group.

Although the number of doctors who have invented is not much, they are the main driving force for the development of medical science. Without them, the health sector will stand still. Many medical instruments and machines are devised by doctors, not engineers. Only doctors, every day collide with all kinds of cases, so it is easy to come up with innovations and inventions. But in Vietnam, inventions that are actually recognized by the world - like Professor Ton That Tung's liver-cutting technique - are extremely rare.

Most of our doctors are now learning directly from teachers or through books and then practicing on patients. Doing a lot, knowing many complex forms, having many complications, learning from experience will gradually become a good doctor, golden hands of home medicine.

In many diseases, Vietnamese doctors intervene with better results than other countries in the region, maybe even the world. We have a team of fairly skilled doctors who are familiar with most of the complex techniques in medicine. But why are we not considered a strong healthcare system, and our patients still go abroad for medical treatment?

The reasons such as the quality of the service are not yet satisfactory, the equipment is not modern enough, in my opinion, it is easy to change. But a deep reason that few people mention is the lack of medical products "made in Vietnam". Surgical methods, pills, instruments or a medical machine "Vietnamese specialty", although very small, will put Vietnam on the list of countries capable of attracting international visitors to medical examination and treatment.

Why are there no medical "inventors" when the smart Vietnamese people learn well, many ideas? Many overseas Vietnamese have been participating in major projects, medical innovations and experiments around the world. But if they return, deploying them domestically is just "phase two" or "phase three" - phases of clinical application in practice. Vietnamese doctors who participate best only have their names in scientific articles, and the great interests from copyright and national brands are outside borders. The reason is simple: we are delighted with the position of being a good performer.

Vietnam does not have a methodical human or material investment toward breakthrough medical innovations.

Nearly a decade ago, when I was researching to design a Nitinol ventricular sealing device (the alloy of Nickel and Titanium), I took the drawing to meet Vietnamese engineers, but all received only a shake of the head. By chance in an international conference, meeting a representative of a company in Shanghai, China, I agreed to cooperate. Exactly three months later, the prototype was on my hands.

Although it is quite satisfied, to use products for healing is still a very long way and sadly, it cannot be done in Vietnam. We do not have laboratories on animals and do not have legally authorized procedures to conduct "animal experiments". So I wrapped the melon to China to do animal experiments. This is a complete German-invested "animal lab" with European approved standards. Only working in such labs, when the product comes out, getting a license to use in Europe (CE) will have a chance.

Many nights were as cold as cutting meat, I went out to eat at the rice shop, especially the greasy food was difficult to swallow, then went back to do experiments with pigs and dogs. Those days became unforgettable memories in my life. Just because of my desire to have a medical device "of mine" helped me to overcome such hardships.

But in life, few people anticipate every corner. The big project failed the least unexpectedly. Lack of experience working with foreign countries, so I do not sign any copyright papers. As a result, I was left out when it was almost done. The company I worked with declared bankruptcy and soon founded another company that produced the tools I designed without paying a penny in royalties.

This painful failure made me no longer dream of discovering a few years later, just struggling to improve methods to make it easier to cure - the path that many of our doctors are taking.

The question is that resources from the state are increasingly limited for investment in basic science, and investment in basic medical science is even more difficult. The road to success is hard work, even many projects can cost a lot of money but cannot have an output. Therefore, we need to go differently, stand on the shoulders of a giant to grow, rely on our strengths to create medical specialties "made in Vietnam". In my opinion, the key is technology.

We all know, compared to the world science level, mathematics in general and information technology of Vietnam are in a relatively high position, almost catching up with the world level. Therefore, it is possible to choose this path to create a medical breakthrough.

Hanoi Medical University Hospital has just cooperated with Vingroup Big Data Research Institute to apply artificial intelligence in medicine. This project researches and develops solutions to assist the radiologist. With the ability to identify anomalies with accuracy of over 90%, this AI application software will effectively assist doctors in cancer screening and detection of incurable diseases. Artificial intelligence has an objective role of consultation, ensuring that small details are not missed, helping doctors have enough data to make the best decision.

In particular, with the ability to self-optimize over time, the AI ​​algorithm will be continuously "trained" by experienced radiologists, can automatically localize suspected lesions and only output irregularities with high accuracy.

Also recently, the telehealth platform, deployed for the first time by a domestic corporation in our hospital during the "fiery" months of Covid, has achieved initial success. More than 100 hospitals across the country have participated in this application proving the effectiveness of this completely Vietnamese program. In addition, Cambodia, Laos were the first two countries to participate online and then Myanmar and Taiwan have expressed their desire to cooperate with us.

Our inventions are very small, but truly ours bring great encouragement value for physicians, Vietnamese intellectuals, international gold medals in Mathematics, Chemistry and Sinh to promote their potential abilities. That opportunity awaits policymakers.

Nguyen Lan Hieu

Source: https://vnexpress.net/nhung-bo-nao-y-khoa-4120597.html