The HCM City Oncology Hospital and French drug company Sanofi-Aventis on Wednesday signed an agreement to improve the skills of doctors and nurses working in cancer treatment. — Photo Courtesy of the company

The HCM City Oncology Hospital on Wednesday signed an agreement with French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis Viet Nam for collaboration in cancer treatment this year.

They will organise conferences to discuss experiences in cancer treatment, and broadcast them live to grassroots level hospitals across the country.

The company will sponsor doctors from other hospitals attending the conferences.

It will sponsor the cancer hospital’s doctors attending conferences in the country and abroad.

The hospital’s website to educate cancer patients will be upgraded and manuals for nurses on how to care for cancer patients and manage their pain will be published on it.

Cancer is the leading cause of death globally after problems related to the heart, with lung, breast and liver cancers being the most common.

There are nearly 165,000 new cancer patients each year, and nearly 115,000 deaths. More than 300,000 people live with cancers now.

Dr Pham Xuan Dung, head of the HCM City Oncology Hospital, said: “Cancers are the leading [medical] threat to Vietnamese and also a burden on the health industry, with the country seeing an increase in the incidence of cancer and [the disease] being detected late, leading to complexity in treatment and high costs.

“Improvement of doctors and nurses’ cancer treatment skills is a vital task.” — VNS