Vietnam's field hospital in South Sudan

The military is completing preparations to deploy a field hospital to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan.

Rehearsing in a hypothetical situation at Level 2 Field Hospital No. 1. Photo: People's Army Newspaper

According to the People's Army Newspaper, the officers and doctors of Level 2 Field Hospital No. 1 have completed a practical training program consisting of 4 phases: Installing equipment; operating the hospital to handle medical situations; comprehensive operation, handling medical situations, commanding and operating the field hospital; and practicing dismantling, cleaning, and packing the equipment set.

The practical situations were designed by the professional officers of the Military Medical Department in collaboration with international experts to closely match the actual conditions in Bentiu (South Sudan); gradually increasing the difficulty and complexity; gradually shifting from individual medical examination and treatment activities of each department to comprehensive operation of all departments and units of the hospital operating at full load and sometimes overloaded in field conditions.

In the hypothetical situations that the hospital has to deal with, the most difficult is operating under power shortage conditions.

All departments of the hospital still maintain their operations according to their positions and responsibilities in the hypothetical situation where all three generators fail. In the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission, a broken generator means the tents have no air conditioning, no water pump, no lighting equipment, etc.

While waiting for the power outage to be fixed, specialized departments such as the Outpatient Department, Emergency Department, and Isolation Department continued to examine and receive patients. Medical equipment switched to battery mode. Doctors in the Surgery Department were still urgently preparing instruments and performing surgeries as scheduled.

At the Command Center, the Field Hospital Director informed the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission that the hospital could be maintained until 6 p.m. that same day. After this time, the hospital would close if there was no electricity and the situation would be reported to the Mission.

Through these situations, many experiences have been drawn, serving as a basis for better preparation for the deployment of field hospitals to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

In parallel with the practice activities of handling medical situations and ensuring technical logistics, international experts and officers of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center with experience working at UMISS organized local information exchange sessions with officers and security staff of the Hospital.

So far, Vietnam has sent 19 officers to perform duties at two United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic and is continuing to prepare rotational forces to replace and participate in new positions at the invitation of the United Nations.

Vietnam is also actively completing preparations to deploy a Level 2 Field Hospital and an Engineering Team to the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission as scheduled in 2018 and the following years.

According to baochinhphu.vn