The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has pledged support worth JPY80 million (US$661,000) for a project to help improve treatment for heart diseases among children in Vietnam.

The University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City and Japan’s Okayama University signed an agreement on Monday for a cooperative project to provide medical assistance for treating pediatric heart diseases in the country.

The project, which is under the management of JICA, targets three Vietnamese hospitals including the University Medical Center in Ho Chi Minh City, the National Hospital of Pediatrics and the E Hospital in Hanoi.

The support is funded by Japan’s official developmental assistance (ODA) for Vietnam.

The funding will last until 2020 and will provide support in medical equipment and professional personnel in treating young children with heart diseases.

Okayama University has been appointed by JICA to organize advanced courses on complex heart surgeries, and to conduct training sessions for surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, technicians and medical engineers of the three Vietnamese hospitals concerned.

About 13,000 newborn babies in Vietnam develop a form of heart disease each year.

The University Medical Center of Ho Chi Minh City, managed by Medicine and Pharmacy University, admitted an average of 3,000 patients per annum, of whom around 700 come from regional centers across the country.

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