Vietnam masters world advanced technologies

Many studies in the 2011-2015 state-level vital science and technology program were evaluated as reaching the world advanced level, bringing in great economic values.

At the meeting summarizing the 2011-2015 state-level vital science and technology program on September 10, 2016, in Hanoi, Dr. Nguyen Thien Thanh - Director of the Office for State-level Key Programs said, there were 15 state-level vital science and technology programs from 2011-2015. Most of projects of the programs were designed for researches on seizing control of world and regional advanced technologies. Preliminary assessments show that, almost 200 world advanced technologies or technical processes were studied in Vietnam, 80 of which proved to be used on a successful basis in the country.

In regards to endoscopic thyroid gland surgery techniques, Vietnam only applies conventional instruments, without using robot and complicated instruments, so the surgical time is only 30 minutes and the cost is very low - about 400 USD/surgery. Meanwhile, the cost abroad is US$7,000-10,000. This technique has so far been implemented successfully on 80 patients. 15 professors and more than 200 surgeons from Southeast Asian countries and Vietnam came to learn from this technique after the researcher team performed sample surgeries in universities of Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India.

Transplantation of kidney, pancreas of dead-brain people is a world advanced technology implemented after Vietnam medicine’s successes in single organ transplantation - heart, liver, pancreas or other organ transplantation. The fact that scientists successfully performed the first kidney-pancreas transplant surgery using kidney and pancreas of dead-brain people marks further development of Vietnam medicine in the field of multi-organ transplantation, opening many opportunities for patients who need multi-organ transplantation. The organ transplant technique is expected to save life of patients suffering more severe diseases.

Production of Rotavirus vaccine live was also a great success of Vietnamese scientists. Although the product was made according to research processes of international-level technology, it was sold for a price one third that of imported product of the same kind (the price of the domestically made product is VND250,000, while that of the imported vaccine is VND750,000/dose). Using domestically made vaccines for more than 100,000 children throughout 60 provinces and cities reduced vaccine expenditure by VND50 billion and the number of under-five-year-old child deaths by 5,300-6,800 cases annually.

Rice breeding technology of Vietnam continues to experience significant progress, contributing effectively to ensuring food security and sustainable development. Research projects created high-yield, high-quality and fragrant rice varieties that are resistant to some major pests. Vietnam created high-quality salt and alum-resistant rice varieties, including OM9915, OM121, and OM9918, which are being tested on an area of more than 1,000ha in 10 provinces in the Mekong River Delta.

Dr. Nguyen Thien Thanh said that, the 15 key programs have a total cost of around VND1.833 trillion. The programs attracted 5,300 scientific staff members from more than 1,200 research institutions and enterprises nationwide. Socioeconomic impact of the programs’ research results could much surpass the value of capital invested in the programs.

Nga Quynh / ven.vn