Professor Jacques Marescaux encounters Vietnam President

Professor Jacques Marescaux, President of the IRCAD, was guest of honor at the 10th Meeting of Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia (ELSA) in Hanoi, Vietnam, with a peak attendance of 2,200 Asian surgeons.

On November 25, 2010, at the end of the ELSA Meeting, Professor Jacques Marescaux was honoured to meet Mr. Nguyen Minh Triet, President of the Republic of Vietnam, along with Vietnam’s Minister of Health and Vietnam’s Minister of Technologies, the ELSA President and the ELSA General Secretary for more than one hour.

They exchanged views on the development of the Asia IRCAD whose influence and radiance greatly exceeds the borders of Taiwan, on remote access surgical education through WeBSurg, the first virtual university accessible on the Internet, gathering more than 208,000 active members. Vietnam President underscored that charge-free access to WeBSurg is of great interest for all surgeons in Asia.

Vietnam President also asked the IRCAD President about the advances in minimally invasive surgery, and notably about the two world’s firsts performed in 2001 (“Operation Lindbergh”, first transatlantic surgical intervention between New York and Strasbourg), and in 2007 (“Operation Anubis”, a world’s first no-scar intervention).