Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Defence onNovember 19 held a ceremony to send 29 staff of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field HospitalNo. 2 to South Sudan to join UN peacekeeping mission.
Addressing the event, Rear Admiral Nguyen Trong Binh, DeputyChief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army expressed his hope thatthey will promote solidarity and mutual support to complete all assigned taskswith utmost safety.
He pledged that leaders of the ministry, the General Staffand the General Department of Politics will create all favourable conditionsfor them to accomplish their mission.
He also asked the Vietnam Department of Peace KeepingOperations and relevant agencies toregularly update the situation of thehospital and ensure support policies for the hospital’s staff.
On November 19, the first batch of the staff of thehospital starteda 12-hour flight to South Sudan on a C-17A Globemaster III – the biggestaircraft that Australia sent to Vietnam to help transport the peacekeepers.
The aircraft will also carry the staff of the first hospitalback to Ho Chi Minh City.
The rest of the 63 members of the Vietnam’s Level-2 FieldHospital No. 2 will fly to South Sudan on November 26, along with 60 tonnes of suppliesand equipment of the hospital.
Vietnam dispatched its firstLevel-2 hospital to the UN mission in South Sudan in October last year.
Officers and soldiers of thehospital have accomplished their mission of ensuring health care for UNpeacekeepers in South Sudan. They also joined defence foreign affairs andserved as medical care-givers to locals.
A ceremony to welcome backand honour the returning peacekeepers will be held on December 2 at MilitaryHospital 175 in HCM City.
Since last October, when theyfirst left for South Sudan, staff of the first hospital haveoffered treatment for nearly 1,800 patients, with many life-saving surgeriesconducted./.