NGOs fund tropical disease, oncology wings at hospital

Original Source DA NANG – Contruction on a new, state-of-the-art building to house Da Nang’s Hospital’s departments of oncology and tropical diseases began on Thursday. Funded by the Bermuda-headquartered NGO Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) and implemented by the East Meets West (EMW) Foundation, the US$3.5 million project is a humanitarian gift to the people of Da Nang and surrounding areas. The new building will also include laboratory facilities, which will enhance the central region’s capacity to respond to an epidemic. The tropical medicine department will care for patients infected by avian influenza (H5N1) and other diseases such as SARS, viral hepatitis and AIDS, while the oncology department will provide approximately 60-80 beds to support chemotherapy services and rooms for radiotherapy equipment. Da Nang is the fourth largest city in the country, and the Vietnamese Government has placed great responsibility on the hospital in terms of health, medical, and other social services, leadership for the 20 million people living in the surrounding areas. In addition to tropical medicine, preventive health care and cancer treatment are two other missions of Da Nang Hospital, said Tran Ngoc Thanh, the director of Da Nang Hospital. Since 1998, the partnership between AP and EMW has provided health and higher education infrastructure to several cities and provinces, including Da Nang, Hue and Quang Tri Province. In recent years, Da Nang University has received two modern libraries, a 12-story English Language Institute, a sports complex serving over 500 students daily, and a staff guesthouse. The Da Nang Hospital emergency ward and examination building and eye hospital were also completed in 2005-06. – VNS