Vietnam's UN peacekeeping staff in South Sudan (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam, at the request of the United Nations, has received and successfully treated a UN staff member who contracted COVID-19 while working in aregional country and was in critical condition.
The patient was brought to Vietnam by aplane run by the UN Emergency Chartered MedicalEvacuation Services (MEDEVAC).
After undergoing intensive treatment in a strict quarantine process, and thanks to expertise and dedicatedcare of Vietnamese doctors and nurses, the patient have fully recovered and been dischargedfrom hospital. The UN staff member left Vietnam on June 15 to come back to work.
It was the first time Vietnam has receivedand treated a patient as a UN staff member under the MEDEVAC mechanism, marking a newdevelopment step in the Vietnam – UN comprehensive partnership. The deed once againaffirmed Vietnam’s humane tradition, willingness and commitment tocontribute to international cooperation in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
UN leaders and representatives atdifferent levels appreciated and expressed their gratitude to Vietnam’s good will and spirit ofinternational solidarity. They spoke highly of the Vietnamese health sector’sprofessional capacity and contributions to the care and protection of people’shealth as well as expanding international cooperation andimproving the country’s position.
Lieut. Col Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong holds a South Sudan child during her first patrol as a military observer in December 2019 (Photo: VNA) Especially, UN Under-Secretary General Atul Khare lauded the significance of the deed, saying it helped the UN fulfill its tasks in the region. He alsoexpressed wish to receive more support from Vietnam in the near future.
On the occasion, he alsothanked Vietnam for continuing to send medical workers to the leve-2 field hospital in SouthSudan and giving COVID-19 vaccine shots to them before departure.
MEDEVAC was set up with the aim of creating a global framework to provide emergency evacuation for severely ill UN staff members who require a level of care not availableat their locations. Many countries in and outside the region engaged inthe reception and treatment for them via the MEDEVAC mechanism.
The UN, through the COVAXFacility, had already sent nearly 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, out of atotal of 38.9 million doses it committed to provide for the country free of charge.
Since its admission to the UN in1977, Vietnam has received great support and assistance from UN organs to overcome warconsequences, reconstruct the country and in the renewal process, especially improve productioncapacity, develop human resources, science-technology, integrate into the worldand fulfill global development goals.
Together with offeringmedical supplies to countries worldwide in the past year, Vietnam has and willcontinue contributing to international solidarity to surmount the pandemic./.
