Healthy long lasting relationship

Vietnam’s prime minister asked the Ministry of Health to coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to consider appropriate anti-pandemic measures when applying “vaccine passport”.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on March 17 asked ministries to study reopening international flight routes and prepare for the use of ‘vaccine passport’, as well as promoting international trade.

The prime minister made the request at an online Government meeting with national and local steering committees for Covid-19 prevention and control.

PM Phuc said that Vietnam had correctly identified the danger level of the Covid-19 pandemic, activated the national disease prevention system on time, and offered solutions suitable to the capacity of the country.

“Vietnam has early implemented policies unseen in some other countries by then, like centralized quarantine, rapid contact tracing and quick lockdowns, while the entire political system joined Covid-19 prevention efforts with strong and comprehensive measures,” Phuc added.

He stressed that the war against the novel coronavirus will last long and there remain a lot of tasks to do.

“Vietnam will not let its guard down as many new variants of the coronavirus are spreading in numerous regions, including ASEAN countries,” the prime minister noted.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting. Photo: Quang Hieu

He asked the Ministry of Health to coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to consider appropriate anti-pandemic measures when applying “vaccine passport”.

The Ministry of National Defence has been requested to strictly supervise border lines, border gates and seaports to prevent illegal entry, especially at trails and in border areas. It is also tasked with cooperating with functional agencies to strictly handle cases of intentional illegal entry.

“We understand that businesses, especially those of transportation, services, and tourism are facing numerous difficulties, and many people are underemployed. We will actively implement measures and appropriate policies to support and restore affected industries, especially tourism and aviation,” said the prime minister.

Phuc added that he had received the recommendation of the Tourism Advisory Council on reopening borders to foreign tourists. “I have required the ministries of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Foreign Affairs to study it in order to formulate a more detailed proposal and submit it to the government.”

At the meeting, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long stated that a total 20,695 medical and other frontline workers nationwide got the AstraZeneca vaccine shots as of March 16.

Reports from the vaccination sites indicate normal post-injection reactions, including fever, redness, swelling, tiredness, headache, muscle pain and nausea, Long added.

He noted that the Ministry of Health has continuously supervised people vaccinated with AstraZeneca because there have been some cases of blood clotting in the world after being injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We have asked all health facilities to keep training health workers and organize appropriate and safe vaccination sites,” Long said.

Vietnam documented 1,597 domestically-transmitted infections, including 904 cases since the latest outbreak hit Hai Duong province and some other northern localities on January 27.

At the time of writing, the country 2,567 Covid-19 confirmed infection cases, including 2,198 recoveries and 35 deaths.

Vietnam shares border lines of more than 1,100 km with Cambodia and more than 2,300 km with Laos.

Vietnam is building the worst scenario for Covid-19 as its neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos are struggling with surging infections, including putting their capital cities on lockdown.

Border checking in An Giang province. Photo: Pham Ngon/Zing

According to the Vietnam Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC), Cambodia records some 300-500 new cases per day over last week despite the country’s containment efforts.

The caseload in Cambodia has so far hit nearly 8,000, showed statistics by Johns Hopkins University.

The preparations include tightening control along the borderline and building field hospitals in the boundary provinces.

Best health professionals from Ho Chi Minh City and army officers from different areas have been dispatched to the Southwestern provinces of Kien Giang and An Giang.

An Giang, where shares more than 100 km of border with Cambodia’s Kandal and Takeo provinces, has increased the number of checkpoints to control the cross-border movement, including goods transport at Tinh Bien Border Gate.

Building field trip in Kien Giang. Photo: Tien Phong

Meanwhile, Kien Giang’s Border Guard has set up additional dozens of checkpoints to total nearly 100 currently to ensure the tighten control on road and waterways in Ha Tien City and Phu Quoc Island.

Kien Giang has deployed dozens of mobile groups and patrol boats to support the mission.

Chairman of the An Giang People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh has asked local authorities to build a field hospital in Chau Thanh District to serve quarantine and treatment of Covid-19 patients as well as avoiding cross infection among clinical stations.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Kien Giang People’s Committee Lam Minh Thanh urged more efforts by border guard, navy and coast guard in controlling illegal immigration, mostly at border gates and local trails.

Since February 20, local authorities have uncovered 31 illegal immigration cases with 142 immigrants.

Even for Covid-19 vaccination certification holders, Kien Giang has required a close watch on them in terms of health safety.

The province is building a field hospital of around 500 beds in Ha Tien City while concentrated quarantine centers in Hon Dat and Kien Luong Districts get ready to be active.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long works with border guards in Kien Giang on April. Photo: Pham Ngon/Zing

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long earlier this week said that Kien Giang needs to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Apart from An Giang and Kien Giang, all 13 city and provinces in the Southwest of Vietnam are at the high alert against threat of imported Covid-19 cases.

Since the fresh Covid-19 outbreak in Cambodia broke out on February 20, a large number of Vietnamese people, Cambodian and Chinese nationals attempted to cross the border to enter Vietnam.

Vietnamese officers are doing their bit for peace by working in some of the harshest living environments on Earth

On April 9, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) officially granted a decision of the state president to Major Nguyen Phuc Dong from the ministry’s Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Dong will head to the United States to work for the 2021-2023 tenure at the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The DPO is charged with the planning, preparation, management, and direction of UN peacekeeping operations.

Dong is the third Vietnamese military officer admitted into the DPO, where he will work as a military trainer. The first was Lieutenant Colonel Luong Truong Vinh, who was also admitted to the DPO to work as a general planner, while the second – Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Huong – is a planning advisor.

Elsewhere, at the launch in Ho Chi Minh City of the Level-2 Field Hospital (No.3) two weeks ago, dental technician Major Bui Thi Xoa spoke of her duty to UN peacekeeping operations in South Sudan, a nation she has already visited once.

In the first 14-month period in South Sudan, Xoa and her colleagues braved harsh weather conditions and a lack of water and food, as well as medical equipment – the same conditions badly affecting the livelihoods of local people there.

“We have had to overcome all of these difficulties. We grew our own vegetables and had to be very careful not to catch any diseases,” Xoa said. “For this second time, I feel more confident when it comes to South Sudan. My colleagues and I will do our best to accomplish all duties that the Party, the government, and the Vietnamese people have assigned.”

The Level-2 Field Hospital (No.3) was established in March 2020 with 70 staff, 18 of whom will travel to South Sudan for the second time.

Vietnam’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations is a major policy of the Party and state and also a step towards realising the country’s policy of intensive and comprehensive integration into the world.

According to the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, between June 2014 and the end of 2020, Vietnam sent 179 officers and employees from the MoD to UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic and to UN headquarters in New York. They consisted of 53 officers deployed individually and 126 doctors and medical workers deployed at level-2 field hospitals. Vietnam is also preparing a team of over 300 sappers to join UN peacekeeping operations this year.

Vietnam’s contributions to UN peacekeeping activities have been acknowledged by the international community, UN organisations, and international and non-governmental organisations in the host countries.

Vietnam’s active participation in UN peacekeeping operations has helped assert the Party and state’s foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification of external relations, independence, self-reliance, and respect for the UN’s goals and principles, thereby contributing to the building of sustainable peace.

Vietnamese officers have been praised for their professionalism, disciplines, dependability, and adaptability. The UN also selected Vietnam as the first training centre for international peacekeeping activities in Southeast Asia.

Last November, the 14th-tenure of the National Assembly adopted Resolution No.130/2020/QH14 on participation in UN peacekeeping forces, which will take effect on July 1.

The prime minister has issued an implementation plan that identifies the responsibilities of and assigns tasks to ministries and government agencies to ensure that the resolution will be carried out in a timely, concerted, uniform, and effective manner.

Lieutenant colonel Nguyen Thi Lien I was the first Vietnamese military female officer to have worked as a training advisor at the UN’s Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). On March 12, I returned to Vietnam after a prolonged stay due to the pandemic. My main task is to work with colleagues to organise training courses on improving new skills for new staff at MINUSCA. Undertaking the duty in June 2019, my colleagues and I have faced numerous difficulties, especially in the context of the pandemic. The country is very weak in infrastructure development, coupled with a grave lack of medical equipment and tools and limited awareness of people. In order to cope with the pandemic, we at MINUSCA always paid due attention to protecting our health via enjoying proper and nutritious foods. Due to unfavourable weather conditions, we have had to drink much water and eat many vegetables cultivated by ourselves. We have always encouraged one another to stay optimistic and implemented safe hygienic measures to prevent community contamination. Meanwhile, there is no habit among local residents of wearing masks. We still wore masks but covered our faces with larger handkerchiefs in order to avoid discrimination from locals. From the fact that Vietnam has been doing a very good job in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, I came to the thought that the face mask is a very effective shield and an “amulet” during the pandemic times in a nation very poor in medical equipment. To realise my idea, I went to a local’s home to hire a sewing machine, and then went to the market to buy cloth and elastic bands. I selected cloth with colourful patterns which suited locals’ traditional taste. After working hours at MINUSCA, I found myself making face masks. Being an unprofessional needlewoman, initially I could not make many products. However, day after day the number of masks gradually increased, while the number of COVID-19 victims also ascended. By that point, the country’s government under consultancy of MINUSCA issued a directive ordering all people throughout the nation to wear masks at public places from May last year. Around 800 masks I made personally were then presented to locals and MINUSCA staff. They have become a very significant gift in the context of urgent prevention and fighting against the pandemic in such a poor nation. Major NGUYEN PHUC DONG When I was a child, I always dreamt of becoming a military officer. In 2004, I passed the examination into the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Military Academy of Logistics. In 2009, with my good study record, I became a lecturer at the academy. After a time, I was sent to the United States to study. With big aspirations to make more contributions to the army and work in an international environment, in 2007, I was admitted to work at the MoD’s Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations. After one year of working here, I was selected to become one of two military officers to work as peacekeeper in South Sudan in 2018. The day I set off for South Sudan was also Vietnamese Teachers’ Day. My wife is an English teacher, and I understood that my wife would have to work hard to feed the family. My first child was only five and the second was only six months old at that time. South Sudan is the youngest nation in the world as it declared independence in 2011. Its political situation remains unstable with many conflicts and unfavourable weather conditions. Though before going there, I had studied the country very carefully, I was still surprised when I arrived. South Sudan was characterised with underdeveloped infrastructure and shabby houses of the local residents whose lives depended on support from the United Nations. Almost all children have no schooling and suffer from malnutrition, while the nation is completely undermined by civil wars. The main duty of UN peacekeepers is to protect civilians, create a favourable environment for humanitarian assistance, supervise and inspect human rights violations, and support the implementation of peace processes. During my time in South Sudan, I partook in days-long patrols by air, by road, and by waterway, of hundreds of kilometres a day. In many cases, the patrols faced lots of difficulties because many other forces showed no cooperation and even caused great difficulties to our work. Danger was always on the watch. For example, one month before I came to South Sudan, one comrade had been shot and made the ultimate sacrifice while on duty. However, in defiance of the dangers and difficulties, my colleagues and I will not be deterred, and we will give it our best to accomplish the tasks that we have been assigned in order to keep peace in the world.