VOV

(VOVWORLD) – At 39, Trân Thi Mai Linh is the only woman among the neurosurgeons at Cho Rây Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Qualified, involved, thoughtful and tireless. So many qualifiers that will earn this expert of the neurological and nervous system the rightly nickname of “iron lady”.

Leaving a consultation in the neurosurgery department, Mai Linh joined her colleagues in the ENT (otolaryngology) department to discuss a particularly complicated case of osteomyelitis.

Mai Linh has worked in neurology for fourteen years. She discovered her passion for this field when she was still a trainee. The brain has always fascinated and seduced her because it is the most mysterious and complex part of the human body that scientists continue to decode today. The conditions required to become a neurosurgeon are very demanding: one must be meticulous, patient and full of empathy, but also concentration and a heightened sense of responsibility which is one’s own.

“In my department, a day usually starts very early and ends very late. Sometimes I don’t see the sun for several days. This work requires a great deal of rigor. After an operation lasting several hours, post-operative monitoring begins as soon as you leave the theater. Surgeons can only be released when the patient’s condition is deemed stable,” she said.

Mai Linh and her colleagues. Photo: Kim Dung

The duration of an operation varies between 4 and 8 hours, depending on the complexity of each case, says associate professor and doctor Huynh Lê Phuong, head of the neurosurgery department. At the Cho Rây hospital, doctors have to perform an average of around twenty brain tumor operations and around thirty spinal column operations per week, not counting other pathologies. Surgeons must therefore constantly work under the weight of pressure and exhaustion, which do not discourage Mai Linh.

“Mai Linh is one of the best and most involved doctors in our department. Apart from clinical work, she also participates in scientific research. Competent, dedicated, but also enthusiastic, I know that she will go even further in her career,” says Huynh Lê Phuong.

During her 14-year career, Mai Linh saved many lives, including Nguyên Thi Tâm’s husband. Originally from the province of Kiên Giang (Mekong Delta), he suffered from a brain tumour. If two years ago his life was threatened, he is now in remission and only needs to go to the hospital twice a year for routine check-ups. Whenever he goes to Cho Ray Hospital, the couple never fails to visit Mai Linh.

“Mai Linh is a really friendly and helpful person. Two years ago, during the period of social distancing linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, we could not go to the hospital. I then had to call him to ask for his help. She was available 24 hours a day and was always ready to give me instructions to help my husband,” shares Nguyên Thi Tâm.

For Mai Linh, no one is more proud and happy than a doctor whose patients are fit and healthy. A brain of iron certainly, but also a heart of velvet.