Doctors in Vietnam are set to start performing lung transplants from 2018 once the construction of a specialized high-tech center is finished.

The first sod has been turned on the construction of the high-tech lung transplant center at the National Lung Hospital in Hanoi, which will enable doctors to begin performing the surgical operation from next year, said Nguyen Viet Nhung, director of the infirmary.

Medical practitioners at the facility have been learning the technique from Japanese experts and will have been ready to perform the complicated surgery by the time the center is completed, Dr. Nhung continued.

The National Lung Hospital will be the first hospital in Vietnam to carry out lung transplant on humans, the director said.

Several other infirmaries in the north, namely the Vietnam-Germany Hospital, and the 103 and 108 Military Hospitals, have also been studying the procedure, he added.

According to Dr. Nhung, a donated lung transplant can be applied to patients suffering the final stages of pulmonary congestion, pulmonary fibrosis, and asbestosis.

Ideally patients are under 64 years old with all other organs in good condition.

About 1.5 million people in Vietnam suffer from acute pulmonary congestion, the doctor said.