Hanoi (VNA) – The second level-2field hospital, recently set up by the Ministry of National Defence, isconsidered a new landmark in Vietnam’s participation in the United Nations’peacekeeping operations.

The field hospital no. 2 comprises 70 staffmembers from the Vietnam Military Medical University. It is making preparationsto replace Vietnam’s first level-2 field hospital, which was deployed to the UNmission in South Sudan last October.

Vietnam began joining in UN peacekeepingoperations in 2014. In its initial years, the country sent staff and liaisonofficers and observers to several African nations, including South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

However, these deployments were separateactivities and did not reflect Vietnam’s efforts in sending military staff overseas.The first real milestone in its participation in UN peacekeeping operations wasthe dispatch of the level-2 field hospital no. 1 to Bentiu, South Sudan, onOctober 1, 2018, said Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. NguyenChi Vinh.

He noted that Vietnam has committed to sendinganother field hospital to peacekeeping operations.

Recently, the Vietnam Department of PeacekeepingOperations opened a pre-deployment training course for staff of the secondfield hospital to help them gear up for taking over from the first field hospital.

The two hospitals have been designed so thatthey can be ready to replace each other in peacekeeping operations. 

However, with diverse functions, they will alsoserve as mobile hospitals in emergency cases, like disaster search and rescuein Vietnam, and take part in multilateral drills.

Lt. Gen. Do Quyet, Director of the VietnamMilitary Medical University, said that aside from training in medicine,politics, logistics, and techniques, the university has also paid attention toexchanging professional knowledge between the second hospital’s staff anddomestic and foreign experts. For example, they took part in joint exerciseswith India and Thailand, received training in civil-military coordination inNepal, and engaged in peacekeeping training under the Global Peace OperationsInitiative in Bangladesh and Malaysia, he said.

The hospital’s apparatus has gradually beenconsolidated to improve its capacity in line with the UN’s standards, includingproviding check-ups and treatment for a maximum of 40 outpatients per day,conducting three to four surgeries under anaesthesia per day, and providing treatmentfor 20 inpatients per week. Additionally, the level-2 field hospital no. 2 alsoneeds to have two mobile first-aid teams and keep its equipment and medicineready for any circumstances.

Vietnam’s deployment of the level-2 fieldhospital no.2 to UN peacekeeping operations will demonstrate the Vietnamesepeople’s sense of responsibility towards and contribution to keeping global peace.Each of its staff members is also a peace ambassador of the country in theinternational arena.–VNA