With their wholehearted care for local people’s health, Vietnamese medical peacekeepers have raised the status of the UN Peacekeeping Mission as well as the position of the Vietnam People’s Army.
Vietnamese doctors offer free health checkups and gifts to refugees
According to the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1, in coordination with relevant agencies of UNMISS, provided free health checkups for people living in the UNMISS protection of civilian site (POC) in Bentiu or Bentiu refugee camp.
The important program has benefited 500 South Sudanese who were displaced due to conflict and are now taking refuge in the UNMISS base in Bentiu. The UNMISS working delegation, including Vietnamese peacekeepers, also offered 400 food cans to needy families, 300 drawing books and paints, 10 football balls and 10 volleyball balls to children studying at 8 different schools.
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Vietnamese doctors in a joint photo with local children at the POC |
During the charity program, medical workers of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1 also organized various cultural and sporting exchanges with people at the POC. The images of Vietnamese peacekeepers performing at music shows, playing sports with local people and instructing local children on art projects have impressed both local people and other peacekeepers from other countries.
Needless to say how happy the South Sudanese living in the POC felt when they were offered gifts, and had a chance to play with friendly Vietnamese peacekeepers. Particularly, the children there had a good time and temporarily forgot their difficult living conditions in the war-torn country.
Chief of the UNMISS Field Office in Bentiu Hiroko Hirahara spoke highly of the military-civilian exchange program and the role of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1 in conducting charity activities for local people. She said that Vietnamese peacekeepers’ charity programs in South Sudan demonstrated Vietnam’s responsibility for the international community.
With its successful organization of charity programs in South Sudan, Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1 held a seminar on civilian military cooperation (CIMIC) on August 6-7 to share experience in conducting social programs with peacekeeping forces from Mongolia, Ghana, the UK, India and Cambodia. Representatives of the participating countries in the seminar highly valued the significance of CIMIC as well as Vietnam’s initiatives for CIMIC programs.
Vietnamese doctors conduct first night emergency flight
Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1 has now been a reliable healthcare center in Bentiu. On August 5, a Mongolian peacekeeper with acute cholecystitis was hospitalized. As the patient had the symptom for the past five days, his cholecystitis already produced severe side-effects on other organs when he was taken to the hospital. The patient also appeared to have a severe infection, abnormal heart rate, low blood pressure and other complications. The result of the abdominal ultrasound scan showed that his gallbladder was decaying.
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AMET members prepare for flying the patient |
Doctors of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1 quickly held a consultation under the chair of Director of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1 Lieutenant Colonel Bui Duc Thanh. After the consultation, the doctors decided to conduct intensive treatment in an effort to reduce inflection in the patient’s heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas. At the same time, they reported the case to the UNMISS Medical Chief and suggested quickly transporting the patient by air to the higher-level hospital.
Before an emergency flight, the Vietnamese doctors maintained intensive care for the patient ensuring that his ailment would not become worse. A plane was dispatched by the UNMISS to the hospital at night, and the Aeromedical Medical Evacuation Team (AMET) of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No1 flew with the patient in intensive care to the higher-level hospital in the Capital City of Juba, South Sudan.
Translated by Thu Nguyen