Vietnam determined to save British pilot, avoid its first COVID-19 death

[snoop1130]

Vietnam determined to save British pilot, avoid its first COVID-19 death

By James Pearson

 

FILE PHOTO: People wait for rice donation in front of Saint Joseph Cathedral during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Hanoi, Vietnam April 27, 2020. REUTERS/Kham

 

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has mounted an all-out effort to save the life of its most critically ill novel coronavirus patient, a British pilot who works for Vietnam Airlines, the national carrier.

 

Through aggressive testing and a mass, centralised quarantine programme, the Southeast Asian country has kept its tally of coronavirus cases to just 288 and has reported no deaths.

 

Little expense has been spared to try save the life of the 43-year-old man, identified only as "Patient 91", who caught the coronavirus at a bar in the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City in mid-March, state media reported.

 

More than 4,000 people connected to the cluster were tested, with 18 of them found to be infected with the coronavirus.

 

While most have recovered, the British pilot is on life support and his condition has deteriorated significantly.

 

On Tuesday, the health ministry held a meeting with experts from top hospitals and decided that the only way to save the man's life was with a lung transplant.

 

His case has garnered national interest in Vietnam, where the government has won broad support for its campaign to contain the coronavirus.

 

On Thursday, state media said 10 people, including a 70-year-old military veteran, had volunteered themselves as lung donors, but had been turned down by state doctors.

 

"We are touched by their good intentions, but current regulations don't allow us to transplant lungs donated by most living people," a representative of the Vietnam National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation (VNHOT) told the Tuoi Tre newspaper.

 

The patient has just 10% of his lung capacity left and has been on life support for more than 30 days, Tuoi Tre said.

 

Deputy health minister Nguyen Truong Son told media last month that Vietnam had imported specialist medicine from overseas to treat blood clots in the patient, but to no avail.

 

Vietnam has spent more than 5 billion dong ($200,000) trying to save him, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

 

In March, Chinese state media said it had successfully carried out a double lung transplant on a coronavirus patient, a procedure it hailed as a significant method of treating the disease's most stricken victims.

 

Vietnam is hoping to capitalise on its success fighting the coronavirus by positioning itself as a safe place to do business as international manufacturers look to diversify their supply chains away from China.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-14

 

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[bodga]

I  find it  rather ridiculous to do lung transplants.

[rasmus5150]

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Vietnam is hoping to capitalise on its success fighting the coronavirus by positioning itself as a safe place to do business as international manufacturers look to diversify their supply chains away from China

Yes. Great Vietnam - hopefully many more countries will follow.

[rasmus5150]

4 hours ago, bodga said:

I  find it  rather ridiculous to do lung transplants.

With only 10% lung capacity left......... What is your solution?

[NCC1701A]

wow way to go Vietnam. keep up the good work. 

 

[madmen]

49 minutes ago, rasmus5150 said:

With only 10% lung capacity left......... What is your solution?

To go to that level of expense and risk to just keep a perfect record  is insane .He is basically dead already , surely that money could be used down at the local children's hospital

[kingdong]

5 hours ago, bodga said:

I  find it  rather ridiculous to do lung transplants.

even if you needed one?

[kingdong]

8 minutes ago, madmen said:

To go to that level of expense and risk to just keep a perfect record  is insane .He is basically dead already , surely that money could be used down at the local children's hospital

Perhaps what they,'re learning off this case could save other lives,this pandemic is not going away in a hurry.

[Emdog]

Thankfully they haven't considered the Trump option: put him on a cruise ship and send him out to sea (People do recall he didn't want infected cruise ship to dock in US because it would make his numbers "look bad")

[Mama Noodle]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In March, Chinese state media said it had successfully carried out a double lung transplant on a coronavirus patient, a procedure it hailed as a significant method of treating the disease's most stricken victims.

 

What. 

 

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Vietnam is hoping to capitalise on its success fighting the coronavirus by positioning itself as a safe place to do business as international manufacturers look to diversify their supply chains away from China.

 

Good for Vietnam. Thailand and everyone else should take their lead. 

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, rasmus5150 said:

With only 10% lung capacity left......... What is your solution?

Death ..... even if it were me.

[Caldera]

While you have to applaud them for their efforts, at some point it's just necessary to let go.

[Darkside Gray]

He didn't catch it in the bar, he imported it from overseas!

[Darkside Gray]

Vietnam did it right, the place is now back to normal, not a new normal!

[Letseng]

Blood plasma from a recovered person? This has been successfully done in other countries. 

Why did he go to a bar at this time?

[nahkit]

4 minutes ago, Letseng said:

Blood plasma from a recovered person? This has been successfully done in other countries. 

Why did he go to a bar at this time?

He got infected in March, before any lockdown was in place.

[Burma Bill]

2 hours ago, Darkside Gray said:

Vietnam did it right, the place is now back to normal, not a new normal!

Hopefully, Cambodia very soon - new normal here same as "old normal"! 

[rasmus5150]

14 hours ago, madmen said:

To go to that level of expense and risk to just keep a perfect record  is insane .He is basically dead already , surely that money could be used down at the local children's hospital

This is not only about saving a life.

This is a British pilot - remember Vietnam War? John McCain was a great piece in the communist propaganda puzzle.

[rickudon]

Well, i can only wish Vietnam succeeds. They are a good example to the rest of the world on how to beat coronavirus.

 

I wonder how much effort would be spent in Thailand on a foreign pilot .......

[lee b]

Fair play to Vietnam for trying to keep a clean sheet. They have done a great job so far, and after having to go through the vietnamese medical service a few years back I only have praise for them.

 

They saved my life and lets hope they save his.