Feb 27, 1999
By enews.ttvn@sg.fpt.vn

L¥n Ð¥u Thñc Hi®n KÛ Thu§t Chøp và Nong еng MÕch Vành Tim · Mi«n Nam

v¾i các bác sÛ · B®nh vi®n Th¯ng Nh¤t, Hµi Tim mÕch TP H° Chí Minh, Vi®n Tim và Trung tâm Ch¦n Sáng 23-2, ðoàn giáo sß bác sÛ MÛ (sang TP H° Chí Minh theo l¶i m¶i cüa S· Y tª thành ph¯) ðã hµi thäo ðoán Y khoa v« kÛ thu§t chøp và nong ðµng mÕch vành tim. Ðây là loÕi kÛ thu§t cao ð¬ chæa b®nh thiªu máu c½ tim cøc bµ (b®nh suy ðµng mÕch vành, nh°i máu c½ tim) mà không phäi qua phçu thu§t l¥n ð¥u ðßþc tiªn hành · mi«n nam.

Các bác sî s¨ nong mÕch vành tim cüa b®nh nhân và ð£t nòng giá ðÞ (Stent) cho máu chäy qua ch² h©p. Ðßþc biªt, mµt stent ð£t vào ðµng mÕch giá t× 1.000 - 2.000 USD. Riêng 50 b®nh nhân ði«u tr¸ ðþt ð¥u s¨ ðßþc mi­n phí vì sØ døng stent cüa Giáo sß Nguy­n Xuân Ngãi (Tr߶ng ðÕi h÷c Y khoa California) t£ng.

 Sáng 25-2, các bác sÛ ðã tiªn hành chæa b®nh b¢ng loÕi kÛ thu§t cao này tÕi B®nh vi®n Th¯ng Nh¤t.

Theo Giáo sß, bác sÛ Võ Quäng, Phó Giám ð¯c Trung tâm Tim mÕch B®nh vi®n Th¯ng Nh¤t, xác su¤t thành công cüa phß½ng pháp này trên thª gi¾i là khoäng 94%. Ðßþc biªt, b®nh thiªu máu c½ tim cøc bµ th߶ng xäy ra v¾i nhæng ng߶i t× 50 - 70 tu±i, tuy nhiên do ði«u ki®n làm vi®c cång thÆng, ðµ tu±i m¡c b®nh này ngày càng th¤p. B®nh nhân trë nh¤t · Vi®t Nam m¡c b®nh này m¾i 27 tu±i ðßþc pháy hi®n tÕi B®nh vi®n Th¯ng Nh¤t.

(Báo Ng߶i lao ðµng)

BY KEN MCLAUGHLIN, Mercury News Staff Writer
BY AND THERESA MY VUONG, Viet Mercury Staff Writer

Hours before approximately 4,000 emigres gathered for San Jose's largest anti-communist demonstration since the fall of Saigon, a Vietnamese-American doctor interrogated in Ho Chi Minh City arrived back in the Bay Area and denounced the Vietnamese government.

``I think it was very cruel and ridiculous to hold an American citizen after being invited by the government,'' said Dr. Ngai Nguyen, 50, a San Jose cardiologist who was on a teaching mission to his homeland. ``I demand an apology from Vietnam.'' Nguyen, a founder of the San Jose-based People's Action Party, said he was harshly interrogated for three days about his anti-communist political activities after security police seized his passport, visa and airplane ticket. After a boisterous welcome at San Francisco International Airport, Nguyen told reporters the brutal treatment was ``mental, not physical.''

Nguyen's case was uppermost in the minds of some who attended Friday night's rally and flashlight vigil, dubbed ``Light the Fire of Belief.'' Vu Nguyen, 50, of San Jose, said he was not surprised by the doctor's report of harsh treatment. ``This is how the communists operate,'' he said. ``With them, the end justifies the means.''

The protest at Lion Plaza on Tully Road was aimed at supporting democracy and human rights in Vietnam. Organizers say they were inspired by weeks of protest in Westminster's Little Saigon against Orange County shopkeeper Tran Van Truong for displaying a picture of the late communist leader Ho Chi Minh and the red flag of communist Vietnam. Young and old Bau Nguyen, a former South Vietnamese army paratrooper, was heartened by the unity of purpose he saw in the crowd, both young and old. Many at the rally commented on how the often disparate Vietnamese-American factions were brought together by the young people who organized the event.

``This is the first time that there has been such a large number,'' said Nguyen, who has lived in San Jose for four years. Phuc Nguyen, 65, agreed. ``The older generation is here to support the younger generation to continue to bring freedom to Vietnam, a Vietnam without communists,'' he said.

Many protesters waved 4-by-5-foot South Vietnamese flags and carried placards such as ``Freedom for Vietnam,'' ``Down with Communists'' and ``Thank You, America.'' People strolled by with soft drinks and eating donated French bread sandwiches as they passed out flags.

Hung Huynh brought the whole family, including sons Billy, 11, and Randy, 10. He said he wanted the younger kids to ``learn about what happened in Vietnam'' so they can ``carry on the Vietnamese  tradition, customs and language and the fight against the communists.''

The ceremony began with ``The Star-Spangled Banner'' playing as the yellow South Vietnamese flag and the American flag flew overhead. It was the first protest for Tuan Ngoc Nguyen, who came to the United States in 1975 and has been in San Jose since August.

``We came here for political reasons, but we haven't forgotten Vietnam,'' he said, choking up. ``I want to bring back knowledge and democracy to Vietnam. We can accomplish this if each person helps, hand in hand.'' At the fall When Saigon fell in 1975, Dr. Ngai Nguyen was a military physician in the South Vietnamese Army, on duty at Nguyen Van Hoc Hospital in a Saigon suburb. At 10 a.m. April 30, communist tanks entered Saigon and he watched from the hospital window as a unit of South Vietnamese paratroopers dissolved before his eyes.

Nguyen was the only physician in the hospital, working around the clock -- tears in his eyes -- to      save the wounded who couldn't leave. Within days, he was sent to a ``re-education camp,'' where he spent the three worst years of his life. This week, as security police in Ho Chi Minh City grilled him incessantly and pointed flashlights in his eyes, he couldn't help but recall the interrogation and brainwashing in the camp. ``They keep asking the same question 100 times:

Who are the people in the party?'' said Nguyen, who is affiliated with Columbia San Jose Medical Center. About two dozen family members, friends and Vietnamese-American journalists cheered Nguyen as he emerged from Customs at San Francisco International Airport about 6:15 p.m. Friday. Before he left Vietnam, Nguyen said, he was asked to sign a statement saying that he had been well-treated.

The Vietnamese government, Ho Chi Minh City police and the local People's Committee have not commented on the incident. But the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said it was investigating. Nguyen's People's Action Party made headlines in December 1996 when 28 party members were arrested by Cambodian authorities and accused of trying to illegally cross the Thai border to hold a political meeting.

Nguyen, the vice chairman of the party, said Friday his group seeks nothing more than a democratic, multi-party system in Vietnam. He said he had no contact with party members during his aborted medical mission.

After the Vietnamese were captured in Cambodia, 19 were deported to Vietnam over the objections of United Nations refugee officials who feared that they would be persecuted. Records taken at the time, Nguyen said, the Cambodians confiscated more than 50,000 applications from party members and résumés of all the leaders. They said they feared that Hanoi would gain access to the documents.

Nguyen said Friday that he was convinced that the security police knew about him because of the incident. For the first week of the trip, he and San Jose cardiovascular technician Chuck Gibaut were treated like royalty. Dozens of doctors learned how to perform angioplasties and angiograms. Local TV stations and newspapers gave the medical mission coverage.

``I felt like a movie star,'' Nguyen said. Nguyen speculated that the instant fame was his downfall, because authorities became concerned that the anti-communist activist could become a Vietnamese Boris Yeltsin, a threat to their power.

``One officer told me that they (the Vietnamese) were stupid to let me in,'' he said. ``He said that now you're so popular you could be the prime minister or something.'' Shortly before midnight Monday, Nguyen was told that someone wanted to talk to him about his passport. When he went down to the lobby of the Central Hotel, he was questioned by 15 uniformed police.

He was ordered to show up at the police station at 8 a.m. Tuesday, when he began the first of three nine-hour interrogations. On Friday morning, Nguyen was interrogated for another hour. Then an immigration official appeared, and the doctor saw his passport for the first time in five days. It was the first sign that he was going home.

Nguyen was whisked to Tan Son Nhut Airport for his Singapore Airlines flight escorted by dozens of police cars, with lights flashing and sirens blaring. ``I felt like the president of the country,'' he said.

Mercury News Staff Writer Rodney Foo contributed to this report.