12-hour journey of traffic police officers to protect organ donor hearts

On August 24, the Traffic Police Department of Hanoi City Police received information from the Director of Xanh Pon General Hospital requesting the Traffic Police force to support safety assurance for medical experts to transport a donated heart from the hospital to Noi Bai airport to Ho Chi Minh City in time for transplant to a patient.

Upon receiving the information, Colonel Tran Dinh Nghia, Head of Hanoi Traffic Police Department, directed the Patrol Team to arrange 2 specialized cars and a working group to immediately go to Xanh Pon General Hospital to provide support.

At 10:00 a.m. the same day, the escort team of the Patrol Team arrived at Xanh Pon General Hospital, coordinating with medical experts to prepare the best conditions in terms of human resources and equipment to carry out the mission.

Because the organ retrieval could not be carried out as originally planned, at 5 p.m. the same day, at the request of the hospital, the traffic police used a specialized vehicle to take medical experts and specimens from Xanh Pon General Hospital to Noi Bai airport to check compatibility and prepare a treatment regimen.

At 8:10 p.m., it was pouring rain in Hanoi, and the working groups of the Traffic Police Department began their journey to lead the way to transport the "gift of kindness" from Xanh Pon General Hospital to Noi Bai airport.

Due to heavy rain, some points on the route were flooded. Colonel Tran Dinh Nghia, Head of the Traffic Police Department, directed the team to change the route and requested local teams to increase traffic flow and guidance at intersections so that the vehicles carrying organs and experts could travel in absolute safety.

At 8:40 p.m., officers and soldiers of the Traffic Police Department completed their mission, and together with medical experts, brought the donated heart to Noi Bai Airport, to be transferred to Ho Chi Minh City, and transplanted into the patient on the night of August 24.

Previously, on the night of August 22, Xanh Pon General Hospital received an accident case in critical condition.

Patient N.D.T., 32 years old, was admitted to the Emergency Department at 11:51 p.m. the same day after a serious traffic accident.

At 3:15 a.m. on August 23, the medical team conducted a clinical assessment and suspected that the patient was brain dead. After three thorough and detailed examinations by leading experts, the final results confirmed that patient N.D.T. could not survive.

Faced with the pain of great loss, the patient's family made a brave and humane decision: Donate their loved one's organs to bring life to others.

On the afternoon of August 24, Xanh Pon General Hospital, with the support of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, performed multiple organ retrieval and kidney transplants for 2 patients and post-operative resuscitation.

The donor's liver will be transplanted to a patient at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital.

The donor's heart will be brought to Ho Chi Minh City to be transplanted into a 20-year-old male patient at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Donor corneas were transplanted into two patients at 108 Military Central Hospital.