FAMILY PRACTICE MEDICAL PROGRAM

Wellness Global Foundation’s Family Practice Program has supported the establishment of a General Family Practice at the University Training Center of Ho Chi Minh City. In November 2005, WGF helped initiate a Congress devoted to the Family Practice at the Pham Ngoc Thach Medical College in HCMC to begin training Vietnamese doctors in family practice medicine. The family first medical program has also aided in the creation of three outreach family practice centers, two located in large hospitals located in urban areas and one rural post in Cu Chi.

What the Family Practice Medical Program is

What the Family Practice and Medical Program has achieved

In Vietnam, most patients do not regularly visit family or general practitioners.  Vietnamese citizens generally wait until they are ill and then seek medical attention at a hospital.  These individuals do not receive personalized medical care that can offer preventative medicine for their specific needs. The Family Practice Medical Program’s provides training to medical professionals in family medicine and also established three family practice centers to reach 1,000s of Vietnamese citizens who previously lacked access to a general practitioner.

In April 2006, a delegation of faculty from the Department of General Medicine of the University of Liege came to HCMC to further expand the Family Medicine program in Vietnam. Several meetings at the Pham Ngoc Thach Medical College and at the medical clinics laid the foundations for a training project in family medicine as part of the WGF’s program.

Through videoconferencing, medical missions, and learning exchanges between the Pham Ngoc Thach Medical College and their Belgian counterparts the program has continued to grow the capabilities of the clinics and also the medical staff trained in the medical college.  As a result, in 2008 the program secured the support of a Belgian University foundation for the years of 2008-2012.  Thus, more family medicine training will come within the Pham Ngoc Thach Medical College as well as opportunities for Vietnamese students to study in Liege, Belgium.

WGF is committed to providing on-going training to the medical staff of these practices. Past conferences and seminars have provided Vietnamese doctors and nurses with the best resources and training in this field, in order to most effectively reach Vietnamese citizens in both urban and rural areas. The program continues to provide the most up to date training while simultaneously opening more experimental family practice clinics to utilize the training and to provide primary medical care to a larger group of Vietnamese citizens.