Hue Central Hospital said on February 2 that its doctors successfully performed a cross-country heart transplant, saving a 41-year-old patient who suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy and end-stage heart failure.
Earlier, the hospital received information from the National Coordination Center for Organ Transplantation about a brain-dead donor at the University Medical Center HCMC and immediately sent a medical team to coordinate the organ retrieval. The donor’s heart was transported to Hue by plane within the required time frame for a heart transplant.
Hours after the transplant at Hue Central Hospital, the donated heart from the brain-dead donor started beating again in the patient’s chest.
Two weeks after the heart transplant, the patient’s heart function recovered well, with an ejection fraction (EF) reaching 60%. The patient was discharged from Hue Central Hospital amid the overwhelming joy of family and loved ones, just in time for the Lunar New Year 2025, reported the Tien Phong news site.
Vietnam’s three cities among the world’s 100 best food cities
TasteAtlas Awards 24/25 has announced the list of 100 Best Food Cities in the World, in which Vietnam has three cities selected – Hue, Hanoi and HCMC, according to thanhnien.vn.
Ranked the 35th in the list of 100 Best Food Cities in the World by TasteAtlas Awards 24/25, Hue City is famous for its bún bò Huế (Hue beef noodle soup), bánh bèo (steamed rice cake with shrimp topping), bánh khoái (Hue crispy pancake), nem lụi (pork lemongrass skewer), bánh bột lọc (tapioca dumpling), chè hạt sen (lotus seed sweet soup), cơm hến (mussel rice), chạo tôm (shrimp surimi grilled on sugarcane stick), and bánh nậm (steamed rice dumpling with shrimp topping).
Hanoi City is ranked the 40th in the list thanks to its famous dishes such as bánh cuốn (steamed rice roll), chả giò (spring roll), bún chả (Hanoi grilled pork rice vermicelli), bún riêu (freshwater crab noodle soup), egg coffee, bún ốc (snail noodle soup), bánh tôm (fried shrimp cake), and phở (beef or chicken noodle soup).
HCMC is ranked 56th in the list for its cơm tấm (broken rice), bánh mì (Vietnamese baguette with various stuffing), hủ tiếu (noodle soup), and ốc (various kinds of mollusks).
Twin newborns weigh just over 700g
Doctors at Tu Du Hospital in HCMC have successfully taken care of twins in the 26th week, who weigh 700g and 850g at birth, reported the Thanh Nien news site.
The mother went into preterm labor in October 2024 due to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). The newborns required immediate resuscitation before being transferred to the hospital’s neonatal unit for intensive care. Both infants spent over a month in incubators, receiving intravenous nutrition and respiratory support. On November 19, the first twin was stable enough for kangaroo care—skin-to-skin contact with parents—followed by the second twin 10 days later.
After 81 days of hospital care and treatment, the twins were discharged. They are now healthy, weighing 2,500g and 2,300g, respectively.
Coral farming in Nha Trang Bay
As many coral reefs in Nha Trang Bay in Khanh Hoa Province have been affected by natural and human activities, quite a few young people, with their love for nature, have rolled up their sleeves to cultivate coral fragments to recover coral reefs.
Under the sea off Tri Nguyen Island in Nha Trang Bay is a coral nursery run by Wonder World Nha Trang Co. Tran Van Chuong, technician and diver at Wonder World Nha Trang, told tuoitre.vn that it takes eight months to three years to cultivate coral fragments before they are able to be replanted on the reefs, depending on each coral species and the seawater environment. He added that the 350-square-meter nursery is now cultivating some 1,000 coral fragments of various species.
Nguyen Vu, CEO of Wonder World Nha Trang, said there are over 350 coral species in Nha Trang Bay, adding that the nursery is now farming nearly 50 species of coral fragments for recovery. Aside from the nursery off Tri Nguyen Island, the company has received permission from the Nha Trang government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to cultivate coral fragments to recover coral reefs in 28 hectares of the sea off Tien Beach.
