Viet Nam Deploys Third Level-2 Field Hospital to South Sudan

Medics to be deployed to South Sudan

The 3rd level-2 field hospital was established in March 2020 with 70 medics who will be divided into two groups and transported to the African country on March 24 and April 21 on Australia’s C-17 aircraft.

All these personnel have received the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine at Ho Chi Minh City-based Military Hospital 175 last week.

They will get the second dose at the field hospital in South Sudan, said Major General Nguyen Hong Son, Director of the Military Hospital 175.

A ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday to see off the field hospital medics who will replace their colleagues accomplishing their mission in South Sudan.

Participants at the ceremony included Deputy Ministers of National Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh and Hoang Xuan Chien, Australian Ambassador to Viet Nam Robyn Mudie and representatives from the European countries’ embassies and international organizations in Viet Nam.

In his remarks delivered via virtual form at the ceremony, UN Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare spoke highly of Viet Nam’s peacekeeping efforts, particularly its deployment of the level-2 field hospital since 2018.

He said the participation reflects Viet Nam’s strong commitment to the partnership between Vietnam and the UN.

Viet Nam sent the first team of military doctors to work at the UN field hospital in South Sudan in October 2018 and the second team was taken there one year later.

The Southeast Asian country first joined UN peacekeeping operations in 2014 with first two military officers sent to work at the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

From June 2014 to December 2020, Viet Nam has sent 179 officers and soldiers, including 126 military medical staff of level-2 field hospitals, to UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, the Central Africa Republic and the UN Peace Operation Department at the UN headquarters./.

By Thuy Dung