Ten emergency medical teams involved in the second regional collaboration drill in Da Nang city. (Photo: VTV)
Da Nang (VNA) – Vietnam stands ready to cooperate with other ASEANmember states in medical response to natural calamities in the region, affirmedDeputy Minister of Health Pham Le Tuan at the second regional collaborationdrill held in the central coastal city of Da Nang on March 26.
The event, which was jointly held by the Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA), Thailand’s National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM) and themunicipal People’s Committee, is part of the project on strengthening the ASEANregional capacity on disaster health management. Vietnam and other nine ASEANstates have proactively joined in the project since 2015.
Tuan said that international drills will enable Vietnamese medical managementagencies to improve their professional capacity in case of natural disasters.
Senior Representative of JICA Vietnam Office Nozomi Iwama said that therehearsal aims to bolster cooperation between medical forces to have promptresponse in case of emergency.
JICA will collect specific response and build a cooperation mechanism on healthresponse in the ASEAN bloc, she noted.
Ten emergency medical teams (EMTs) from ASEAN and Japan took part in the rehearsalin which a fierce storm was supposed to make landfall in the central coastalarea, causing critical damage in lives and property in Da Nang city, Quang Namprovince and some localities in the vicinity. Medical centres were completelydevastated and they could not provide medical aid to the victims, especiallythose in isolated areas.
Under the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calledfor humanitarian aid from the ASEAN members through the ASEAN CoordinatingCentre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management. The EMTs joinedhands with the medical staff in Da Nang city and Quang Nam province to set upmobile medical stations to save the victims.-VNA
VNA
