HANOI, June 26 (Bernama) -- Vietnam is the first nation in Asia to have reached the target set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), to help more than 85 percent of patients fully recover from tuberculosis (TB) and provide treatment to over 70 percent of diagnosed cases.

The figures were announced at a ceremony to mark the Central Lung Hospital's 55th anniversary in Hanoi last Sunday, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

On addressing the event, Deputy Minister for Public Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen underlined the leading role the hospital plays in the control and prevention of TB and lung disease.

The Deputy Minister said she hopes the hospital will continue cooperating internationally to raise support for the nation's TB control and prevention programme and apply the latest science and technologies to diagnosis and treatment.

Since it was first founded in 1957, the hospital has successfully developed methods of controlling and preventing TB from communal to central levels and has found practical ways of combating TB that are applicable in Vietnam.

The hospital uses 16 out of 19 WHO certified technologies to diagnose TB.

To mark the occasion, the hospital was awarded the 'Labour Hero' title.

-- BERNAMA