Doctors from Facing the World (FTW) - a UK-registered medical charitable foundation and Vietnam's 108 Central Military Hospital conduct a complicated craniofacial trauma surgery in 2019. (source: The Courtesy of FTW)

London - A unique medical mission focusing on craniofacial trauma surgery for children will go to Vietnam from the UK to work with three major hospitals in Hanoi from November 16-30.

The mission is part of an annual education exchange programme between the two countries funded by Facing the World (FTW), a UK-registered medical charitable foundation set up in 2002 to treat children from developing countries with craniofacial defects.

Led by Professor Mike Perry, a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the Northwick Park Hospital in London, the mission is the first of its kind to utilise complete integration of a foreign doctor with Vietnamese doctors to facilitate training and multidiscipline team building and surgical approaches. Professor Mike Perry is a listed Top 50 UK surgeon and is an expert in the field of craniofacial trauma and complex deformities following.

During this mission, Professor Perry will lead a team of Vietnamese doctors and anaesthetists who have been working with him over the years through FTW sponsored fellowships to conduct complex surgeries for children with craniofacial trauma and post traumatic deformities.

The operations will be carried out at Viet Duc, 108 Central Military and Hong Ngoc hospitals which are FTW’s partners in Vietnam. Prior to the surgeries, Professor Perry will join local doctors in conducting assessments and creating treatment plans for potential patients who come from across Vietnam.

Professor Perry is also expected to conduct a series of lectures on acute facial trauma management at the three hospitals, which can be attended online by Vietnamese doctors nationwide.

During this mission, FTW will also discuss with its partners a programme to help Vietnamese cancer patients.

Voluntary CEO of FTW, Katrin Kandel, said the mission is the second this year following the multidisciplinary mission in April. It is the 33rd mission since FTW first sent international medics to Vietnam to join local doctors in operating complex surgical cases in 2008.

Katrin stressed that creating teams of trained Vietnamese doctors and anaesthetists to take charge of patient consultation and operations domestically, like the one led by Professor Perry on this mission, is key to FTW programme, which is the hub-and-spoke approach where expertise is built up in the correct locations with all patients throughout Vietnam being able to access.

The CEO of the foundation said the approach aims to create viable and sustainable solutions to the needs and create sustainable expertise in Vietnam, which, FTW expects, in the longer-term will become part of the surgical expertise training scheme at FTW, acting as a craniofacial centre in Southeast Asia.

FTW started operations in Vietnam in 2007 after a Vietnam visit by the foundation found a high rate of birth defects and the need for establishing craniofacial centres in Vietnam.

The foundation’s key activities cover sending international medics to Vietnam to operate complex surgical cases; sending Vietnamese doctors abroad to learn new techniques and approaches of craniofacial surgery and treatment; and providing medical equipment, particularly telemedicine equipment and technology.

To date, FTW has helped provide surgeries for thousands of children with craniofacial defects across Vietnam and sent nearly 150 Vietnamese doctors to top medical institutions in the UK, Canada, the US and Australia for training. The foundation has also donated 2.4 million GBP worth of telemedicine technology and surgical equipment to its partner hospitals in Vietnam.

In the next five years, FTW plans to enable a further 40,000 operations to be performed by its trained Vietnamese doctors. The foundation expects to send at least another 200 Vietnamese doctors abroad for training and continue to donate medical equipment which is considered to be game changing.