Vietnamese military doctors leave for UN field hospital in South Sudan

28 medical personnel left Vietnam Tuesday to man a field hospital in South Sudan as part of an ongoing U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The medical personnel are part of a batch of 63 officers^[2] who have finished a two-year training course and met the United Nations’ requirements to replace their colleagues who have been working for a year at the field hospital established by Vietnam ^[3]in South Sudan last year.

The rest of the batch will leave Vietnam next Tuesday.

Officers and their loved ones showed up at Noi Bai International Airport early on Tuesday for the year-long trip.

Their belongings include food, flashlights, ropes, hammocks and mosquito nets.

Colonel Nguyen Nhu Canh, deputy director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said the officers have been trained for two years to diagnose and provide emergency treatment.

Vietnam set up its field hospital in South Sudan in October last year with 63 officers.

The hospital has so far treated 1,970 patients^[4], performed 59 surgeries including 19 complicated ones, and undertaken five airlifts.

The first batch of officers are scheduled to return to Vietnam in two groups on November 21 and November 28.

Preparations for the third group, with 70 personnel, are underway.