June 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 6
Maine residency helps Vietnam develop specialty
The family practice department and residency of the Maine Medical Center in Portland have consulted with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Ministry of Health since 1995 and have led train-the-trainer and curriculum sessions at Vietnam's three medical schools. One faculty member from Ho Chi Minh City University is taking a family practice fellowship at Maine Medical Center now, and another will come next year.
How will the Physicians With Heart project in Vietnam bolster this effort? "AAFP's model for teaching family medicine will be invaluable in continuing to educate Vietnam's physicians and educators about family medicine," says Alain Montegut, M.D., of Brunswick, Maine. "The medical products -- which we hope will include small medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals -- will go in part to the family practice centers to assist in their development and further the work of the new family physicians." The training of family physicians in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and possibly Thai Nguyen is slated to begin next February.
"Over the years, many AAFP members have asked Physicians With Heart to go to areas in addition to the former Soviet republics," says Daniel Ostergaard, M.D., AAFP vice president for international and interprofessional activities. "Vietnam wants to change its health care structure and develop competent generalist physicians, and it is already working with AAFP members. The Vietnam project is a great opportunity to further our goal of developing family practice around the world."Airlift to help Vietnam in 2001
Twenty-five years after the Vietnam War, Physicians With Heart is embarking on an effort to improve health care and promote family practice in the Southeast Asian nation. Early next year, Physicians With Heart will bring donated medical products and CME sessions to the medical sites of three new family practice residencies: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and rural Thai Nguyen in northern Vietnam.
Since 1993, Physicians With Heart -- a project of the Academy, the AAFP Foundation and the humanitarian organization Heart to Heart International -- has airlifted donated medicine and medical supplies to republics of the former Soviet Union. These annual airlifts, supported in part by the U.S. State Department, will continue.
The AAFP Foundation aims to raise $50,000 through its international fund to augment funds and logistical support from Heart to Heart for the Vietnam project. To contribute, call Sandy Panther at (800) 274-2237, Ext. 4450.
If you'd like to join the early 2001 journey to Vietnam -- or the Oct. 6-15, 2000, airlift to Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic -- contact Maya Singh at msingh@hearttoheart.org or (405) 787-5200.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
FP Report | Headlines |AAFP Home | Search