{"id":31601,"date":"2026-03-04T15:37:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/portraits-of-scholarship-holders-dr-syamphai-phommachan\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T07:49:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T05:49:48","slug":"portraits-of-scholarship-holders-dr-syamphai-phommachan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/portraits-of-scholarship-holders-dr-syamphai-phommachan\/","title":{"rendered":"Portraits of scholarship holders: Dr Syamphai Phommachan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The Swiss Laos Hospital Project regularly awards scholarships for the training and further education of medical professionals in Laos. We would like to introduce you to one such scholarship recipient who has now completed her training and is working again in her home town of Nong Het at the local district hospital. Dr Syamphai Phommachan received financial support from our group of general practitioners during her three-year specialist training in gynaecology and obstetrics.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Why did you apply for a scholarship?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>After completing my education in general medicine, I underwent six months of training in neonatology. To broaden my knowledge, I initially planned to pursue specialist training in paediatrics and neonatology. <\/p>\n\n<p>However, whilst working in the hospital, I witnessed several pregnant women and women in labour passing away \u2013 this ultimately motivated me to pursue specialist training in obstetrics and gynaecology. In particular, I would like to care for pregnant women in order to reduce the risks associated with childbirth for both them and their babies. <\/p>\n\n<p>However, the tuition fees and the cost of living in Vientiane are so high that I wouldn\u2019t have been able to fund this degree myself.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>How can you implement the knowledge you have gained?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>I now feel confident in 80 to 90 per cent of cases when it comes to assessing, advising and treating pregnant women. I know which warning signs to look out for. I have also learnt how to perform a caesarean section \u2013 just this morning, I diagnosed HELLP syndrome in a pregnant woman and then performed a caesarean section.  <\/p>\n\n<p><em>What motivated you to return to the hospital where you worked before?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>The high rates of maternal and infant mortality that I have observed here.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>What are your plans for the future?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>I am now responsible for the care of pregnant women and newborns at Nong Het Hospital. I have arranged for every pregnant woman to undergo screening for infections (HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis). All women are also screened for warning signs of potentially dangerous conditions, and are given guidance and advice.  <\/p>\n\n<p>Ich w\u00fcrde gerne das Wissen, das ich jetzt habe, an mein Team weitergeben. Ausserdem w\u00fcrde ich in unserem Spital gerne weitere Behandlungen anbieten k\u00f6nnen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Swiss Laos Hospital Project regularly awards scholarships for the training and further education of medical professionals in Laos. We would like to introduce you to one such scholarship recipient who has now completed her training and is working again in her home town of Nong Het at the local district hospital. Dr Syamphai Phommachan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":31533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31602,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31601\/revisions\/31602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisslaos.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}