At the meeting, Tra acknowledged VAMED’s nearly three decades of engagement in Viet Nam since 1997. During this period, the group has implemented around 158 million EUR (176.6 million USD) in ODA-funded projects, including 10 major projects that helped upgrade medical equipment at 15 military hospitals, Bach Mai Hospital, Cho Ray Hospital and Hue Central Hospital, as well as install medical waste incinerators for 25 provincial hospital clusters.
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An overview of the meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra and César Louis-Philip Marseille, Managing Director of VAMED Engineering GmbH of Austria and member of the Board of Directors of VAMED+WWH Group of Germany, in Hanoi on October 7 |
She said these achievements provide a foundation for the two sides to enter a new phase of broader cooperation, focusing on core technologies and delivering practical benefits to people.
Marseille said Viet Nam is one of VAMED’s important partners in Southeast Asia. The group plans to invest 1.2 billion EUR in Viet Nam over the next five years, creating jobs for thousands of workers and promoting knowledge and technology transfer. It also wishes to expand cooperation through preferential credit projects, public-private partnerships (PPPs) and partnerships with private enterprises; and supply medical products from Austria and Germany for Vietnamese partners.
Notably, he proposed studying the development of a hospital ship in Phu Quoc, affirming that the model could provide healthcare services to large numbers of patients and help strengthen Viet Nam’s medical capacity.
Tra welcomed the idea, noting that Viet Nam’s long coastline, numerous islands and diverse healthcare needs create favorable conditions for studying mobile medical services at sea, particularly for responding to natural disasters and emergencies.
As Viet Nam will host APEC Economic Leaders’ Week 2027 in Phu Quoc, she stressed that the proposed hospital ship should serve a long-term purpose rather than being designed solely for the APEC event. It should help strengthen healthcare capacity, support international events and improve healthcare services for the public.
She asked VAMED to urgently complete a detailed proposal covering technology, operation and implementation mechanisms. The Ministry of Health was tasked with coordinating with relevant ministries, agencies and An Giang province to assess the project’s feasibility, technical requirements, standards and necessary conditions.
The Deputy PM also called on VAMED to study the possibility of investing in elderly care and healthcare facilities in Viet Nam, noting the growing demand for life-cycle healthcare services, and the group’s operation of around 60 elderly care facilities in various countries.
She affirmed that Viet Nam is promoting the socialization of healthcare and stands ready, in compliance with the law, to facilitate investment by enterprises with strong technological capacity and a high sense of social responsibility, with people at the center of healthcare.
Source: VNA