The figure was announced at an annual seminar organized by the Vietnam Cancer Association, the Ho Chi Minh City Cancer Association and the Vietnam National Cancer Hospital in Hanoi and the Tumor Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday with participation of over 1,500 representatives from local and international hospitals.
Specifically, Ho Chi Minh City has seen an increase in cancer patients with a year on year rise of 9 percent. For instance, in 2010, the city recorded 6.800 fresh cases of cancer but it rose to 9,000 cases and 23,000 in the period 2015-2017 and 2019 respectively.
Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tumor Hospital Dr. Pham Xuan Dung said that cancer screening and treatment is a medical burden globally including the Southeast Asian country.
According to the Global Cancer Observatory, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, causing about 9.6 million deaths in 2018 when 18.1 million new cases were recorded.
It is forecast that new cases of cancer will rise to 19.3 million globally. In 2018, there were more than 164,000 estimated new cases of cancer in Vietnam and 114,000 deaths.
Dr. Dung said that it is a remarkable achievement in the health sector that Vietnamese doctors have grasped advanced techniques in treating cancer. Especially, Vietnam has applied artificial intelligence in treatment of cancer in hospitals which helps screening and improve treatment result.
Attendees delivered speeches about achievement in treatment of cancer. Additionally, there were six seminars about palliative care on cancer patients.
On the occasion, the city People’s Committee also granted a badge to Dr. Eric Lewis Krakauer, who heads the Global Palliative Care Program and assistant professor of Massachusetts General Hospital for his achievement and support in palliative care activities in HCMC for years.
