Doctors in Hanoi have successfully replaced a patient’s heart valve with his own pulmonary valve to treat his heart valve failing, instead of using an artificial valve as usual, VnExpress reported Saturday. According to the newswire, Vietnamese doctors have applied the technique, considered a difficult one, since 2003, but didn’t announce it until recently. The latest patient was a 23-year-old student identified only as Thuc, it said, adding that the three-hour operation was conducted by [...]

Up to 1,000 women die every day as a result of pregnancy-related complications globally, and 5,500 newborns die in the first week of life because of a lack of adequate medical care Twenty five years ago, Chamale Thi Cuc was born in a forest, where her mother was assisted by a traditional birth attendant. “At that time, there was no commune health station,” said the Raglai woman from the south-central Ninh Thuan Province’s Ma Du [...]