Present at the closing ceremony were Giles Lever, British Ambassador to Vietnam, Mary Tarnowka, US Consul-General in Ho Chi Minh City, British Military Attaché to Vietnam, Group Captain David Houghton and representatives of the Vietnam Ministry of National Defense among others.
Delivering his speech, Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh affirmed that securing peace, stability and prosperity all over the world is the obligation and also responsibility of all countries, including Vietnam. Vietnam’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations shows the onus which rests on Vietnam, as a UN member country to bring about peace and stability to conflict zones around the globe. Vietnam is a friend, reliable partner and responsible member of the international community, he further reiterated.
Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh speaking at the event
The general valued highly all efforts of staff of the level-two field hospital No.1 and the smooth coordination among relevant agencies of the Vietnam Ministry of National Defense, and gave thanks for the valuable assistance from US and UK medics which made the exercise a success.
Efforts from the Vietnamese side and support from the international experts are the important foundation to help Vietnam successfully deploy the hospital to the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) in the second quarter of 2018, he added.
Meanwhile, British Ambassador Giles Lever pledged that the UK Ministry of Defense will continue providing information and consultation on possible challenges that might impact the hospital’s operations in South Sudan as well as open more English training courses for the Vietnam People’s Army. He also believed that the Vietnam People’s Army will contribute considerably to UN efforts in stabilizing situation in South Sudan.
For her part, US Consul-General Mary Tarnowka considered the exercise an important milestone for Vietnam in preparing for the successful deployment of the hospital to South Sudan in the coming time.
Especially, participating foreign military medical professionals appreciated highly the efforts, performance and professionalism of the hospital’s staff and agreed that they implemented and met all scheduled requirements of the exercise, and would successfully perform missions while deploying with the UNMISS next year.
The L2FH FTX is conducted by the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center in association with the Military Medical Department, Military Hospital 175, Military Region 7, Division 317, and other bodies of the Ministry of National Defense between September 6 and 23. The exercise provides an opportunity for military medical professionals from Vietnam, the UK and the US to evaluate the overall operational capability of the field hospital prior to undertaking a UN mission for pre-deployment verification at the end of this year and its subsequent deployment to the UNMISS.
During the L2FH FTX, along with support from foreign military medics, staff of the hospital effectively carried out an array of training contents. Particularly, they practiced operating the hospital and simulated some medical incidents, undertook training categories for the general operation of the hospital, and performed the exercise in the presence of leaders of the Ministry of National Defense.
This was the first time the Vietnam Ministry of National Defense to initiate a large-scale exercise for staff of the field hospital in order to help them master the expeditious use of the various pieces of equipment before deploying in South Sudan.
By September 23, they will have finally recovered and sanitized the equipment of the hospital before transporting them to Military Hospital 175.
Translated by Van Hieu