GE Healthcare, Viet Duc Hospital and Viet Medical, open the new VSA Simulation Training Laboratory for Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in Ha Noi. — VNS Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) – GE Healthcare, in partnership with the Vietnam Society of Anaesthesiologists (VSA), Viet Duc Hospital and Viet Medical, opened the new VSA Simulation Training Laboratory for Anaesthesia and Intensive Care on July 6.

The laboratory is aimed at improving anaesthesia education and training and raising awareness on the importance of safe anaesthesia administration in Viet Nam. The simulation training laboratory is the first-of-its-kind in Viet Nam.

The partnership includes US$300,000 worth of equipment including anaesthesia machines, patient monitors, ventilators and basic simulation equipment (ECG, invasive pressure and spontaneous respiration lung simulators), provided by GE Healthcare.

In addition, the patient simulator and camera system were provided by VietMedical. The equipment will be used to help better educate and train Vietnamese clinicians on safe anaesthesia administration to improve patient care. In partnership with VSA, GE Healthcare will also help to develop the curriculum and programme standards for the new simulation and training laboratory.

"We are very happy with the setting up of our modern, high-fidelity simulation laboratory, the first of its kind in Viet Nam, said Association Professor PhD Cong Quyet Thang, chairman of the Vietnam Society of Anaesthesiologists.

"We highly appreciate the support of GE Healthcare and VietMedical and look forward to training and building case scenarios with our anaesthesia resident trainees and medical students, as well as collaborating on simulation training with sister anaesthesiology societies throughout Southeast Asia."

The new simulation and training laboratory is in line with GE Healthcare's commitment to capacity-building and investment into the local communities in which it operates in through advancing education and skills development of healthcare providers.

There is a strong need for more trained anaesthesiologists in Viet Nam. In Viet Nam, there is one anaesthesia provider per 134,434 people compared to neighbouring Singapore which has one anaesthesia provider per 22,140 people and Philippines which has one anaesthesia provider per 40,875 people, according to a report of VSA in 2014.

Currently, the VSA Simulation Training Laboratory for Anaesthesia and Intensive Care is open for enrolment for VSA members and Viet Duc Hospital trainees, with eventual plans to train anaesthesiology practitioners and trainees across Viet Nam and other ASEAN countries.

"GE Healthcare is committed to not only providing innovative technologies and machines for Viet Nam, but also the education and training behind them to ensure healthcare providers are able to give the very best care to their patients," Nilesh Shah, general manager of Life Care Solutions for GE Healthcare Asia Pacific, said. — VNS