Summary

In early 1977, Professeur agrégé Trần Ngọc Ninh made medical history as he successfully performed Vietnam's first-ever separation surgery of conjoined twins - leading a three-member team that included him as the chief surgeon.  It was the first successful surgery of its kind ever achieved by a Vietnamese surgeon in Saigon (now: HCMC), Vietnam.

In June, Professor Ninh with his family fled communist Vietnam by boat.  By September, they reached exile in Denver, Colorado.

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The year 1977 marked the first successful separation surgery of conjoined twins ever recorded in the history of medicine in Vietnam.  Here's the story.

The conjoined twins were born in early 1977 in the lying-in of Từ Dũ Hospital, a maternity ward hospital established in Saigon, South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam, RVN).  As conjoined twins were seen as taboo in Vietnamese society, the parents had no other choice but to abandon their newborn babies.  Not having even a close relative around to care for them, the director of the hospital declared the conjoined twins non-viable, as they were not capable of living or developing independently.

Awaiting their passing in the morgue, the conjoined twin girls were later discovered by a group of 3rd year medical students from the Saigon School of Medicine (aka the University of Saigon Faculty of Medicine) who rotated through the maternity ward.  These students quickly secured a permission from the director of Từ Dũ Hospital to transfer the patients to Saigon Children's Hospital, hoping to get medical treatment from the renowned Professeur agrégé Trần Ngọc Ninh, the chief surgeon and chairman of the Paediatric Surgery Department at Saigon Children's Hospital (now: Bệnh Viện Nhi Đồng 1, HCMC).

Upon transfer to Saigon Children's Hospital, the conjoined twins were immediately cared for, and isolated in a private room that was separated from the rest of the sick children.  One of the twins had debilitating conditions, including a cleft lip and palate with severe congenital scoliosis.  She was found to have pneumonia, and both were treated with penicillin with no improvement to her condition.  Time was running out, so Professor Ninh decided that an urgent operation had to be done to save at least one child.

Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, the working conditions at the children's hospital had deteriorated to sub-optimal level due to the mass evacuation of hospital staff fleeing communist forces and the lack of hospital medical supplies.  There was an acute shortage of high skilled personnel with the remaining staff either killed in the last battle in the defence of South Vietnam, or sent to re-education camps as in the case of the paediatric surgeon Dr Trần Xuân Ninh (not related), the sole associate of Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh at the children's hospital where they worked together in countless surgical procedures throughout the Vietnam War.

In spite of everything, Professor Ninh had to proceed on with the assistance of Miss Lê Thi Thuần, an anesthetist assistant, and Dr Văn Kỳ Nam, a general surgeon borrowed from the General Surgery Department at Binh Dan Hospital.  The surgical operation went well.  The separated twins were in stable condition and were brought to the recovery room.  They were labeled "Infant A" and "Infant B".

On the 3rd post-operative day, a state television crew of the Ministry of Information, despatched from Hanoi on a fact-finding mission into the ex-South Vietnam medical infrastructure, had accidentally arrived at Saigon Children's Hospital.  The chief of the media team, Dr Ngô Văn Quỹ, had noticed two newborn patients being isolated in a special room and inquired about their medical conditions.  Having been told that they were successfully separated conjoined twins, he insisted on airing this extraordinary story on state television.

Several days later, Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh was informed by the media chief Dr Quỹ that he would be commended by the Hanoi Government, on behalf of the HCMC People’s Committee, for his successful surgical operation of the conjoined twins.  From the Soviet Union, Radio Moscow went on air announcing a praise, on behalf of the Eastern Bloc, that the surgical separation was 'a great feat of communism'.

During their stay in the hospital, Infant B died of pneumonia, which had worsened since the media crew led by Dr Quỹ  left the hospital.  It was inevitable due to her pre-existing comorbidities.  Infant A continued to improve and was immediately adopted by a young good-hearted nurse, Miss Nguyễn Thị Bé, who had been a familiar face working under Professor Ninh and his core surgical students at the hospital.

Infant A was given an auspicious name, Nguyễn Thị Ái Nhi, meaning 'Beloved Child'.  Ái Nhi had a normal childhood, a regular education like other children of her age, graduated and trained as a nurse.  She ended up working as a nurse at Bệnh Viện Nhi Đồng 1 (BVND-1), the same hospital where her mother was still working when she debuted.  She later got married and had a son who grew up to be a nurse -- and just like his mother and grandmother, he also works at BVND-1.  To this date, both Ái Nhi and her son are healthy and continue to work at the same hospital.

Nurse Nguyễn Thị Bé and her adopted daughter Ái Nhi kept in close contact with their beloved surgeon, Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh, sending him letters of appreciation and gratitude with their photos to his private practice in Fountain Valley, California.  Their correspondence only ceased after his retirement in July 2007.

Costanzia Tran  PGDip MBA MSc

Published in:  Tập San Y Sĩ  (AMVNC), Issue Nº 235, September 2025 / Montreal, Canada

©  2025 - Costanzia Kim Anh Tran