A new field hospital was established in Hanoi on December 13, aiming to train Vietnamese military medical officers to prepare for a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

Colonel General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Defence Minister, speaks at the event. Photo: Thai An

The officers chosen to join Vietnam’s second level-2 field hospital are outstanding military officers from the Military Medical Academy, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, the second Military Region of the Viet Nam People’s Army, as well as the General Department of Logistics (under the Ministry of Public Security) and the Department of Military Medicine (under the Ministry of Defence).

The Military Medical Academy and the Viet Nam Peacekeeping Department will develop a training curriculum for the officers.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of pre-deployment training for the hospital in Hanoi on Thursday, Colonel General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Defence Minister, said the curriculum should focus on medical examination and treatment in foreign environments, and on foreign language training for medical officers.

“The hospital should keep in close touch with the first level-2 field hospital to exchange information and experiences about their peacekeeping mission,” he said.

He asked agencies under the defence ministry to prepare medical equipment and start developing equipment transportation scenarios.

Members of the level-2 field hospital No. 2 at the opening ceremony of the pre-deployment training course in Hanoi on December 13. Photo: Thai An

VDPO Director Col. Hoang Kim Phung said members of the hospital No. 2 are excellent servicemen and servicewomen chosen from the Military Medical University, the General Department of Logistics, the Military Region 2, the VDPO and the Department of Military Medicine.

Members of the level-2 field hospital No. 2

He noted the pre-deployment training course is part of preparations for the hospital No. 2 to replace the first one performing UN peacekeeping tasks in South Sudan. It is also meant to continue affirming Vietnam’s role, responsibility and efforts in joining UN peacekeeping operations for the sake of global peace and stability.

A level-2 field hospital must be capable of examining and treating a maximum of 40 outpatients per day, receiving 20 inpatients in a week and performing 3-4 operations per day with anaesthesia, according to UN.

Vietnam’s first level-2 field hospital was established on November 25, 2014.

Vietnam dispatched the level-2 field hospital No. 1 to the UN mission in South Sudan in October 2018. 

Sixty-three military doctors from the hospital were deployed to South Sudan in October to join a peacekeeping mission for a year.