Nguyen Thị An, diagnosed with breast cancer, was released from thehospital in stable condition on January 15. She is the second patient tobe successfully treated using stem cell therapy at central Nghe Anprovince’s Oncology Hospital.

The first case was 52-year-old Dinh Thi Lieu, who was discharged from the medical centre on December 12, 2014.

According to Doctor Nguyen Trung Chinh, former head of the MilitaryHospital 108’s oncology faculty and leader of the Nghe An OncologyHospital’s stem cells research team, the therapy has been emerging anddeveloping in Vietnam as a health care sector priority, particularly inthe treatment of cancer and some benign tumours.

Nguyen QuangTrung, director of the Nghe An Oncology Hospital, said as an increasingnumber of people across the country have registered to take part in thenew treatment at his hospital, the medical establishment is facinginfrastructure, human resource and medical equipment shortage obstacles.

Public health insurance is also inadequate for the treatment,he pointed out, adding that total cost per patient for stem celltreatments is 300 million VND (13,981 USD), only one third of which iscurrently covered by national health insurance.

Vietnam hascarried out stem cell research and application in medical treatmentsince the 1990s. The technology has been used in the treatment of blooddiseases, cardiology, dermatology, brain paralysis, and surgery.

In 1995, the country conducted its first stem cell transplant for a 26-year-old patient with blood cancer.

By now, many hospitals have applied the technology in healthtreatment, including the Hue Central Hospital, National PaediatricHospital, Military Hospital 108 and August 19 Hospital, the Haematologyand Blood Transfusion Hospital, Hospital 115.

Hundredsof stem cell transplants have been carried out nationwide so far,primarily for patients suffering from blood diseases.-VNA