A group of American engineers has helped fix and upgrade a medical station in the central city of Da Nang.

The activity, in Hoa Quy ward, is one of several undertaken by the group of over 400 crewmembers of the Japanese landing ship Kunisaki, which docked at the city’s Tien Sa Port on June 6 to join the 2014 Pacific Partnership programme.

The support was necessary to help the medical station, which has been downgrading after 25 years of its operation, and improve the quality of healthcare services for local people.

During the programme from June 6-15, American experts also introduced the latest laser treatment technology for burns patients to Da Nang General Hospital, enabling 54 local patients to benefit from the treatment.

Peter Schumaker, Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the US Naval Medical Centre San Diego, said that the Da Nang hospital is one of the few medical centres in the world to have received the technology. He expressed hope that long-term medical cooperation between the two sides’ doctors will be boosted.

Associate Professor and Doctor Nguyen Nhu Lam, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Burns, said Vietnamese doctors need to learn more from the techniques transferred by their American colleagues to heighten the efficiency of the treatment they offer.

American navy experts and doctors also held symposiums to share their experience with Vietnamese colleagues in a range of fields, including rehabilitation, safe blood transfusion and cardiovascular problems.

The Pacific Partnership, promoted by the United States Navy (USN) in 2004, aims to improve collaboration between the region’s military forces and charitable organisations during disaster relief operations, while providing humanitarian and medical assistance to regional countries.

It has to date offered healthcare services to around 250,000 patients in regional nations and implemented 170 technical projects in 14 Asia-Pacific countries.-VNA