Vietnamese doctors receive UN Peacekeeping Medal in Bentiu, South Sudan

Officials and staff of Vietnam Level 2 Field Hospital Rotation 3 in Bentiu, South Sudan, receive the UN Peacekeeping Medal.

The medal awarding ceremony in recognition of dedication during the entire term was held on March 15, in Bentiu, by the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS).

Brigadier General Dhananjay Joshi, Acting Commander of the UN forces in South Sudan, applauded the hospital's efforts to participate in the joint military-civilian operations (CIMIC), despite the fact that the medical staff are very busy with their professional work. These are HIV/AIDS counseling and testing programs, support of Bentiu hospital, sharing of drugs and equipment with local authorities, and donation of school supplies for students.

Colonel Waleed Elazizy, Chief of Military Medicine of the UNMISS Mission, highly appreciated the role of the Vietnam field hospital in preventing and controlling the pandemic at Bentiu base, preventing COVID-19 from spreading in hospitals, and ensuring a safe environment for patients.

Lieutenant Colonel Trinh My Hoa, Director of the hospital, said that since its deployment on March 26, 2021, the hospital has taken care of health and treated more than 1,400 patients who are UN employees and local people. Doctors have successfully performed more than 16 complicated surgeries, and transported 15 cases by air.

The hospital has applied many new techniques in patient diagnosis and treatment, suitable for field conditions; well organized pandemic prevention and vaccination against COVID-19; and provided oxygen and treated all medical waste for level 1 hospitals in the mission.

UN peacekeeping operations, established in 1948, is a special mechanism assigned by the UN to the UN Security Council in the form of missions to help facilitate the end of conflict and peace-building, through the deployment of forces contributed by member states under the command and control of the UN.

Vietnam has sent officers and employees of the Ministry of National Defense to work on UN peacekeeping missions since June 2014. On October 1, 2018, Vietnam sent a field hospital for the first time to perform a mission in Bentiu, South Sudan./.