Within the scope of ‘Italy Year in Vietnam 2013’, a ceremony was held in Hanoi yesterday to commemorate the 10th death anniversary of Dr. Carlos Urbani, an Italian doctor who died after contracting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) while combating the disease in Vietnam in 2003.

The commemoration was held at the Public Medical University commemoration under the joint organization of Vietnam’s Health Ministry, the Italian Embassy in Vietnam, and the World Health Organization. Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long praised the doctor for his devotion of his life to save the lives of patients. Dr. Carlo Urbani, born October 19, 1956, was a WHO expert who had worked in public health programs in Vietnam since 2000. He was the first to identify severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as a new and dangerously contagious disease. While working on combating the disease, he became infected and died, but his early warning to WHO triggered a strong and timely response that helped save the lives of millions of people all over the world.

The fist SARS patient in Vietnam was Chinese-American national, Johnny Tran, who was taken to Viet-France Hospital in Hanoi after he experienced fever and respiratory problems in 2003, according to Phan Trong Lan, deputy head of the Preventive Health Department. Dr. Urbani arrived in the hospital after it contacted WHO for assistance. The doctor sent the patient’s samples for testing and  examined related data. He later discovered that Chen did not have flu, but probably a new and highly contagious disease. He persuaded the health authorities to isolate patients with the same conditions as Chen to prevent the disease from spreading. He also reported his findings to the WHO, prompting effective responses to cope with the disease. However, during treating patients with SARS, he contracted the virus himself and passed away on March 29, 2003 in Hanoi, after 18 days in intensive care. On April 28, 2003, WHO recognized Vietnams the first country in the world to contain SARS, which affected 63 people in Vietnam and killed five of them. Of the 63 sufferers, 37 were doctors, nurses and health workers who had directly contacted SARS patients.