An Indonesian surgeon visited the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City in February for rectal cancer treatment, undergoing a treatment period of over four months, including an over-four-hour operation, according to the medical center. 

The patient, 64-year-old Andi, is a surgeon in Makassar, Indonesia, a representative of the medical center said on Wednesday.

He was diagnosed with rectal cancer in early 2024.

Before he decided to pin his hopes on Vietnamese doctors and the Vietnamese medical center, he had been advised by his Indonesian co-workers to get treatment there.

His co-workers had previously attended training courses on endoscopic surgery at the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City, which is under the auspices of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City.

Andi and two of his sons, who are doctors in Indonesia as well, traveled to Vietnam in February for him to be hospitalized at the medical center for cancer treatment.

After multidisciplinary consultation, he was consulted to experience radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery treatment, which was set to last for over four months.

Thanks to a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, his tumor reduced in size, while his health situation developed positively.

Therefore, Vietnamese surgeons proceeded with a total mesorectal excision for him.

He recovered well after the surgery and was discharged from the hospital five days after the operation.

Associate Prof. Nguyen Huu Thinh, who was in charge of performing the surgery for Andi, said that was a tough case, explaining that the patient had previously undergone another medical operation to remove his anus and was using an artificial one.

Dr. Thinh said that colorectal cancer is common in Vietnam and in the world in general. The disease is curable if treated early.

Over 800 patients with colorectal cancer are treated at the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City every year, with a stage-three cancer survival rate reaching up to 70 percent.

He stated that the medical center also acts as a training center for local and international doctors.

Over the past 15 years, as many as 763 doctors from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand have joined training courses on endoscopic surgery at the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City.

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