A baby was successfully delivered by caesarean section on the Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands on April 4, the first such operation on the archipelago.

The caesarean section was conducted by doctor Ho Xuan Lang and staff at a medical centre on Truong Sa Lon Island at 10.30am.

Lang said the mother and baby girl (3.2kg) are doing well.

A video conference with Hospital 175 in HCM City provided technical advice for the Truong Sa Lon team.

"The mother has uterine fibroids and her baby was lying in a horizontal position in the womb," Lang said.

"We had a thorough discussion with doctors from Hospital 175 and decided to give her a c-section."

Hospital 175 deputy director Hoang Thanh Binh said it was difficult to carry out a c-section on Truong Sa Lon as it was not well-equipped.

"We had the mother's O-type blood delivered to the island by helicopter," Binh said

Doctors on Truong Sa Lon are from Hospital 175; they take turns to serve three to six months on the island.

The first baby delivered on the archipelago was by vaginal birth on May 16, 2009./.