RoK partners donate medical equipment, supplies to Vietnam

Seoul (VNA) – Vietnam received eight used ambulances and medical supplies donated by partners of the Republic of Korea (RoK) in a ceremony held in Yongin city on December 28.

The ceremony was organised by the fire police department of North Gyeongsang province and the International Fire Suppression Alliance (IFSA) of the RoK, and the Korea-Vietnam Cultural Exchange Association (KOVECA).  

Since the end of August, through KOVECA, the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK and IFSA have deployed a project to receive used Korean ambulances to donate to Vietnam, which have received support from the Vietnamese Ministries of Public Security and Health, the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, as well as the RoK’s National Fire Agency, and especially North Gyeongsang province’s fire police department.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tung said the ambulances donated by RoK partners are useful for local health authorities in Vietnam in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them have better conditions in caring and treating COVID-19 patients.

The ambulances are scheduled to be delivered to Ho Chi Minh City in January 2022.

On the same day, Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Foreign Affairs held a ceremony to receive 80,000 medical masks from the RoK’s Gangwon province.

Tran Phuoc Anh, director of the department, appreciated the assistance from the Korean locality for HCM City and other southern provinces.

According to the official, besides the support from foreign localities, the department has received assistance and donations from southern localities. The agency decided to present 35,000 out of the 80,000 medical masks it has received to the Departments of Foreign Affairs of the provinces of An Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An, Tay Ninh and Tien Giang.  

Addressing the ceremony, Yeon Song-heum, chief representative of the Gangwon office in HCM City, expressed his hope to further promote cooperation, especially in applying high technologies in the medical sector, between Gangwon and HCM City as well as other southern provinces of Vietnam.

Previously, the Consulate General of the RoK in HCM City and member enterprises of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kocham) donated medical equipment and funding worth over 5.9 billion VND (nearly 259,000 USD) to help the southern hub combat the COVID-19 pandemic./.