Arpan Global Charities Medical Mission to Hue, Vietnam

Arpan Global Charities recently returned from Hue in Vietnam after completing its 27th International Medical Mission from February 24 - 28, 2025. This was Arpan’s fifth mission to Vietnam.

The Arpan team served our host hospital, the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (HUMP). Hue University is the third largest Medical University in Vietnam (after universities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City). This hospital, and local community clinics, provide medical services to a large population covering the city of Hue, the highland provinces, and Central Vietnam.

From St. Joseph Hospital:

• Huong Thi Duong Beck, MD (Medicine)
• Paul Beck, MD (Orthopedics)
• Sue Dragoo, NP (Obstetrics)
• Carole Kohen, MD (Pediatrics)
• Sudeep Kukreja, MD (Neonatology)
• Brian Palafox, MD (Cardiothoracic Surg)
• Afshin Shabanie, MD (Anesthesia and Pain Management)

Services provided by the Arpan team to the Hue University community:

Obstetrics: presenting on diabetes care in pregnancy to OB residents, faculty members and midwifery students, and mentoring medical students to determine gestational age by palpating the abdomen.

Orthopedic surgery: mentoring surgical procedures and bedside teaching, including over 15 orthopedic surgeries.

Pain Management: collaboration with Hue colleagues to mentor and demonstrate new epidural and facet injection procedures.

Pediatrics and Neonatology: lecturing and teaching over 100 residents and faculty on neonatal resuscitation (NRP), pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary hemorrhage, neonatal hypotension and congenital infections.

Thoracic Surgery: advanced procedures including pulmonary lobectomies, wedge resections and the Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum, including mentoring and bedside teaching for residents and attendings.

Pharmacy: lecturing on compounding techniques to 100 pharmacists, updating medication labeling and packaging, and providing guidance on proper administration of medications.

Primary Care: three-day rural health clinic, seeing over 100 adults and children, including 4 home visits as part of a pilot program for the community.

According to Sudeep Kukreja, MD,“Our mission would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of Drs. Paul Beck and Huong Thi Duong, and our liaison with the Deputy Head of the Hue University of Pharmacy and Medicine, Office of Science, Technology, and International Relations, Dr. Nguyen Thi Anh Phuong.”

Please contact Dr. Kukreja at 714-585-1920 or at ArpanGlobal@gmail.com to learn more about future medical missions.