Siemens Healthineers report examines advanced stroke care delays in Vietnam
Companies mentioned
A report on stroke system readiness in ASEAN discussed delays in accessing advanced stroke care in Vietnam, focusing on regional variation in time to specialist treatment. The findings matter for how quickly patients can receive advanced interventions after stroke onset, particularly outside major cities.
According to the report, delays before patients reach advanced stroke centres remained a barrier to timely treatment, with access differing by region. The report also cited geographic distance as a major contributor in Vietnam, alongside delayed hospital arrival tied to low public awareness of stroke symptoms. It described the Southwest and Mekong Delta as areas where patients can face long journeys to comprehensive stroke care.
The report said Vietnam had achieved almost 100% regional and provincial coverage of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) as the standard clot-dissolving treatment for ischaemic stroke. It also described how advanced stroke delivery in the Southwest and Mekong Delta continued to involve travel to a comprehensive stroke care centre, affecting when imaging could confirm a diagnosis and guide treatment. Experts additionally discussed AI-enabled tele-stroke approaches that could provide rapid imaging interpretation and decision support, plus AI-based alert systems and tools for hospital patient administration and post-treatment follow-up, alongside trained professionals, referral networks, and standardised care protocols.
For the work discussed, the report highlighted experience from Stroke International Services (SIS) Hospital in Can Tho City, described as the first private hospital to provide comprehensive stroke care for the roughly 17 to 20 million people living in the Mekong Delta. It said the hospital was established about nine years earlier and reported that, in its first year, 13% of patients who previously had to reach a stroke care facility were treated locally. Over the following seven years, it reported that door-to-groin time improved by 25%, and it said the centre achieved diamond-level stroke care status. “Every healthcare system across Southeast Asia is at a different stage of its stroke care journey, yet many of the challenges are shared,” said Fabrice Leguet, Managing Director ASEAN and Head of Enterprise Services Asia-Pacific & Japan, “In Vietnam, this challenge shows up in extending the reach of advanced stroke care beyond the major cities. Improving outcomes depends on how effectively the entire stroke system works together — from recognising symptoms early to bringing specialist diagnosis and treatment closer to patients, wherever they live.”
The report also outlined priorities for strengthening stroke readiness in Vietnam, including strengthening referral pathways and inter-hospital coordination; applying lessons from Can Tho to other underserved regions; supporting public-private partnerships and flexible financing models for new stroke centres; engaging the public through education for earlier stroke detection; and accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence and tele-stroke technologies.
Press release, provided by Cision on behalf of Siemens Healthineers. Read the original.