Building a comprehensive management model for retinal disease patients in Vietnam

It is necessary to develop a comprehensive management model for patients with diabetic retinopathy and macular edema in hospitals. This will not only help improve the quality of treatment for patients but also contribute significantly to the development of ophthalmology in public hospitals, especially at the provincial level.

Dr. Nguyen Trong Khoa - Deputy Director, Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management ( Ministry of Health ) emphasized this at the Scientific Seminar "Towards building a comprehensive management model for patients with diabetic retinopathy and macular edema in hospitals," organized by the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health) in coordination with the Vietnam Medical Association and Roche Pharma Vietnam Co., Ltd. on August 21.

According to Mr. Khoa, the application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) in early detection is a positive direction that needs to be encouraged.

To realize this goal, at the seminar, a specific roadmap was proposed for the cooperation program. The 2025-2027 period will focus on building and piloting a comprehensive management model at a number of key hospitals. Based on the pilot results, national guidelines will be issued in 2027, serving as a basis for nationwide replication in the 2028-2030 period. The ultimate goal is to support increasing the proportion of diabetic patients who receive eye examination and monitoring to over 75% by 2030, according to the national strategy for blindness prevention.

As the leading ophthalmology hospital in the country, Associate Professor Pham Ngoc Dong - Director of the Central Eye Hospital affirmed that the hospital is ready to join hands in building a comprehensive management model, especially in building and perfecting professional guidelines and policies related to the management of diabetic retinopathy and macular edema. The goal is to support diabetic patients in early diagnosis and treatment of eye complications, helping to maintain vision and improve quality of life, especially for patients of working age.

Dr. Nguyen Chi Trung The Truyen - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital shared that the hospital's doctors are ready to participate in training, transferring techniques and improving professional capacity for ophthalmology medical staff in the Southern region. Thereby, the hospital wishes to establish a system for screening and early detection of retinal diseases for a large number of diabetic patients, who are being managed at general hospitals and lower-level medical centers, to reduce the burden on upper-level hospitals, while helping patients receive care, convenient monitoring and timely treatment.

Mr. Lennor Carrillo - General Director of Roche Pharma Vietnam shared that he will continue to accompany the Ministry of Health and the medical community in this program to support diabetic patients to access early screening for eye complications. This is a necessary effort, especially in the context that Vietnam is facing challenges from the increasing rate of diabetes and the aging population.

Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema are a serious health burden. According to a 2020 survey in Vietnam, there are about 7 million people with diabetes, but more than 50% of them are undiagnosed, creating a huge "iceberg" of potential complications. Notably, 39.5% are complications related to the eyes and nerves.

Other reports show that up to 6 out of 10 diabetic patients have eye complications, but only a small proportion of them are screened and diagnosed early. It is estimated that in 2016, there were about 320,527 diabetic macular edema patients in Vietnam.

One of the biggest challenges today is that the rate of people with diabetic eye complications who are managed and treated is still very low.

A typical example in Ba Ria-Vung Tau shows that, of the estimated 18,000 patients with diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema in the community, only 600 are managed as outpatients at the provincial eye hospital. The main barriers include limited public awareness, difficulties in accessing health services and cost burden, preventing many people from receiving early intervention. These lead to serious consequences such as irreversible vision loss and blindness, posing an urgent need for synchronous solutions to improve screening rates and effective treatment.

Given this situation, the development of a comprehensive management model and multidisciplinary coordination is extremely urgent. The discussion reached a high consensus on the need to establish a Group of Experts and build a clear coordination mechanism between the parties./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/xay-dung-mo-hinh-quan-ly-toan-dien-nguoi-benh-vong-mac-o-viet-nam-post1057080.vnp