Vietnam boosts preparations for 2nd field hospital deployment

Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh (standing) chairs the meeting. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam is ramping up efforts to get its second level-2 field hospital ready for the United Nations’ peacekeeping activities in the near future.

The Ministry of National Defence held a meeting in Hanoi on March 11 to review preparations for and difficulties facing the second level-2 field hospital.

Maj. Gen. Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations (VDPO), said the second hospital was set up under the Vietnam Military Medical University (VMMU). It currently has 84 staff members, all of whom are ready to assume their new tasks.

The VDPO has coordinated with Australia and the VMMU since September 2017 in providing English language training to the staff. Fourteen of them have gained an IELTS score of 5.5 as requested by the UN, and training is being increased so as to maximise the number of those with an IELTS score of at least 4.5.

Regarding specialised training, the department has completed pre-deployment training, Phung said, adding that all of the staff have received training in international humanitarian law. Some of them have also taken part in intensive training courses on peacekeeping knowledge.

Training in terms of military, politics, logistics, and military medicine has also been provided by the VMMU, he noted.

Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, head of the inter-sectoral working group on Vietnam’s participation in the UN’s peacekeeping operations, said that sending the second level-2 field hospital to replace the first one, which was deployed to the UN mission in South Sudan last October, is an urgent and necessary task. It helps demonstrate that Vietnam is an active and responsible member in the international community, and shows the country’s capability of taking part in such operations.

He also asked the VDPO, the VMMU, and relevant agencies to continue making sound preparations for the deployment of this hospital.

VNA