Working Group on Family Medicine
Primary health care in Xieng Khouang province
Since 2008, the general practitioner team of the Swiss Laos Hospital Project has been committed to improving primary health care in the Xieng Khouang province. In collaboration with local partners in the district hospitals of Muang Kham and Nong Het, Swiss family doctors and internists visit the area two to four times a year.
The focus of these missions is the continuous training and further education of the medical staff at the hospitals and the associated health centers. Our aim is to strengthen local healthcare staff in the long term and thereby sustainably improve basic medical care in the two districts.
Concrete measures
- Bedside teaching and advanced training for doctors and nursing staff at the hospitals in Muang Kham and Nong Het
- Regular training for the medical staff of the affiliated health centers
- Scholarships for internships lasting several months in the provincial hospital or in the capital Vientiane, for example in the field of diabetes, cardiology or neonatology
- Financial support for doctors during their three-year specialist training in Vientiane
Optimizing the infrastructure
In addition to our ongoing educational work, we also make occasional donations of materials and building materials. Thanks to the support of donors, we were able to support the construction of a maternity ward and a pediatric ward at Muang Kham Hospital. The laboratories in the district hospitals also benefit not only from our expertise, but also from donations of materials, which we provide in collaboration with the laboratory of the provincial hospital in Phonsavan.
How we work
The district hospitals are responsible for emergency care, but also for outpatient care. The following disciplines are present on site: Primary care specialists such as internists, emergency physicians, radiologists (currently X-ray and ultrasound), surgeons, gynecologists, obstetricians and pediatricians. For more specific medical concerns such as ophthalmology or neurology, patients are referred to a hospital in the provincial capital of Phonsavan or in the national capital of Vientiane.
The Swiss GP team shares its expertise in primary care (general medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics) during bedside teaching on the wards, in the outpatient clinics of the hospitals and in workshops on specific topics. The establishment of special consultation hours, such as a diabetes consultation hour, and the further development of laboratories are central elements of our work in the district hospitals. Close cooperation with local partners is important to us in order to continuously adapt our operations and donations to local needs.
The healthcare system in Laos is undergoing change. On the one hand, the focus is increasingly shifting from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure. The treatment of these diseases requires doctors to rethink their approach and establish a so-called chronic care model, i.e. patients must be treated, monitored and controlled over several years. In addition to the change in the spectrum of diseases, more and more private doctor’s offices are opening in the country. Patients who can afford it often seek medical help in private practices, some of which are better equipped than state-run outpatient clinics.
However, not everyone benefits equally from these extended treatment options: In remote provinces and districts in particular, poverty, a lack of health knowledge, poor roads and long distances make access to medical care difficult. Only poorly equipped health centers are available there as a first point of contact.
These often very remote health centers are an essential pillar of local medical care. As the first point of contact for medical help in rural areas, solid primary care and triage are of particular importance in the health centers. However, the health centers are often only equipped with minimal diagnostics and treatment options, and the local staff are very much on their own. The regular practical training provided by the GP group is therefore a valuable support in strengthening these structures, providing medical staff with the best possible training and thus improving care in the peripheral regions of the province.