They spent nearly two hours transplanting a working heart taken from a brain dead donor into Bui Van Nam, 48, from the northern province of Thai Binh, who had suffered from final-stage heart failure.

After the transplant, which was conducted on June 17 with the assistance of experts from Cheng Hsin hospital, Taiwan (China), Nam is recovering well.

The Military Medical University, which also performed the country’s first kidney and liver transplants, has conducted experimental heart transplants since August 2005.

The first heart transplant was conducted successfully in the world in 1967 and has been regarded as an effective procedure to help patients with end-stage heart failure and severe coronary artery disease live longer.