During his reception on Tuesday for Mr Erich Lejeune, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ‘Heart for Heart’ organisation, Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Dang Viet Dung thanked the German non-profit organisation for joining efforts with the municipal authorities to help local patients with heart problems overcome their difficulties.

Vice Chairman Dung (right) and Mr Erich Lejeune (centre)

Vice Chairman Dung also highly praised the organisation for donating advanced medical equipment to the city, and organising training courses on enhancing professional skills and qualifications for local doctors and nurses.

He hoped that the ‘Heart for Heart’ organisation would continue joining even more efforts with the city leaders to help patients with congenital heart disease, as well as to transfer advanced medical technologies to local doctors once the cardiovascular centre at the Da Nang General Hospital is put into operation.

In reply, Mr Erich Lejeune affirmed his organisation would continue funding surgery for children with congenital heart disease in Da Nang, and Viet Nam as a whole.

“My organisation will connect the General Hospital and the University of Da Nang into cardiovascular health networks worldwide in order to facilitate the city’s doctors and nurses to access the most advanced scientific knowledge in medical diagnosis and teaching”, he added.

In the afternoon of the same day, the ‘Heart for Heart’ organisation donated a Philips CX50 cardiology ultrasound machine, worth 70,000 EUR (equivalent to 1.9 billion VND), to the city’s General Hospital.

This modern machine will provide helpful support for screening tests of congenital heart diseases in both adults and children.

Mr Erich Lejeune pledged that his organisation would donate a modern cardiac catheterisation machine, plus accompanied equipment, totalling over 1 million EUR (equivalent to 30 billion VND), to the cardiovascular centre once it is fully operational.

Over recent years, the non-profit organisation has donated many modern medical equipment to the Da Nang General Hospital , and established an advisory council with the participation of the city’s leading cardiologists. Also, it has funded surgery for thousands of very poor children with congenital heart disease.