Launching what promises to be the biggest project ever undertaken by the East Meets West Foundation, a groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 6, 2008 at the National Hospital of Pediatrics (NHP) in Hanoi. The NHP is the largest pediatric care facility in the country, and the main referral facility for all of northern Vietnam. While the staff are highly motivated, and the level of medical care quite good, the facility had deteriorated badly and the need for more space has become overwhelming. Chronic overcrowding at the hospital is common. Parents who need to stay overnight to attend to sick children often have to sleep in the same bed as their children and other family members.
With funding from Atlantic Philanthropies, East Meet West will rebuild the entire medical campus. Demolition of existing buildings has already begun. According to EMW Country Director Mark Conroy, the reconstruction of the NHP will take around seven years and cost upwards of $40 million, with an equal amount allocated for new medical equipment. When complete, the new facility will be a state-of-the art facility for children, with a 40% increase in capacity to provide medical services.
EMW will oversee the construction of four new buildings, including a two-story infectious diseases building, a guest house with space to accommodate 180 parents, and an equipment building for all mechanical and electrical services.
The NHP is also the training location and research lab for EMW’s Breath of Life (BOL) program. Medical technologies such as CPAP machines and LED phototherapy, provided by BOL, were first deployed at the NHP. At present, doctors from all provincial hospitals in northern Vietnam are trained at the NHP.