but also islanders and fishermen working in the waters around the islands, said the hospital's Director Major General Nguyen Hong Son.

An ambulance airplane at the Military Hospital 175's helipad (Photo: VNA)

Founded in 1975 as a strategic hospital of Vietnam’s armed forces in the southern region, the Military Hospital 175 has been tasked with providing medical services to regional military troops and people living in southern islands and the Central Highlands; assisting the people of Cambodia and conducting medical research.

Doctors of the hospital in coordination with the air force to transport patients from Khanh Hoa's Nha Trang City and Ho Chi Minh City's Can Gio district to the hospital. (Photo: VNA)

The hospital has set up a small medical station with threehealth workers on Truong Sa, which has now become a healthcare centre providingbasic internal medicine and surgical services.

It has been bestowed with the title of “Hero of the People’s ArmedForces” twice.

Son said the establishment of the medicalcentre not only marked a milestone for the hospital but also was an honourfor it to shoulder such a mission on Truong Sa.

The hospital was also entrusted by the Central MilitaryCommission and the Ministry of National Defence with developing Vietnam’s firstLevel-2 Field Hospital to take on the UN’s peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

Vietnamese military doctors hold up the flags of the United Nations and Vietnam at Juba International Airport, beginning to carry out UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan.

Over the past years, the Military Hospital 175 has madeall-out efforts to upgrade facilities and develop its personnel. Its doctorsand nurses have been trained by foreign specialists. Annually, about 30 – 40 healthworkers are sent to Vietnam's partner countries, such as the US, Australia, Japan,the Republic of Korea and Singapore, for various training courses.

The hospital has been equipped itself with comprehensive andadvanced technologies as it is striving to transform into a smart hospitalcapable of cooperating with international medical institutions and performing virtualconsultations.

An ambulance airplane of the hospital. (Photo: VNA)

The hospital has modernised its facilities to turn itself into a hospital-hotelcomplex that offers patients a healthy environment.

It has put into use a helipad for emergency aid and in thecoming time, it plans to further reach to people in remote areas./.VNA