Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (right) and Professor Stewart Cole, President of the Pasteur Institute in Paris had meeting in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has proposed that the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the Pasteur Network continue to support and coordinate with Việt Nam in promoting medical research, especially on COVID-19 and post-COVID issues, as well as emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Receiving Professor Stewart Cole, President of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, in Hà Nội on Thursday, PM Chính affirmed that health care is a traditional cooperation field and a bright spot in the strategic partnership between Việt Nam and France, affirming that Việt Nam attaches great importance to medical collaboration with France in general and the Pasteur Institute in particular, thus deepening bilateral ties and making them more effective and practical.

He thanked France for supporting Việt Nam in training personnel for the medical sector, including the Francophone residency programme for doctors which has received more than 3,000 doctors from Việt Nam for practice at French hospitals, and providing vaccines and medical equipment for Việt Nam to fight COVID-19.

The Pasteur Institute in Paris has also assisted Pasteur Institutes of Việt Nam, especially through the grant of 405,000 euros to improve their SARS-CoV-2 research, supervision and testing capacity, he noted, adding that the Pasteur Institutes in Việt Nam have made important contributions to the development of epidemiology, public health and tropical medicine in the country.

PM Chính said Việt Nam hoped to receive further assistance from the French side in enhancing the capacity for Vietnamese medical staff by granting more doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships to Vietnamese doctors and medical management officials, while helping Việt Nam promote digital transformation in the health care sector to enable the country to conduct online medical check-ups and treatment for patients in remote areas and exploit the potential of herbal medicine. Việt Nam is also keen on cooperation with France in medical equipment, he added.

As Việt Nam is a tropical country with a large and increasing population, the country needs support and cooperation from the Pasteur Institute in Paris in implementing a fundamental strategy on research and production of vaccines to proactively respond to arising problems or new epidemics, he said, describing the area as a key pillar in cooperation between the two sides, with the participation of investors and businesses.

For his part, Professor Cole said that Việt Nam has a special position for epidemiologists in France and the Pasteur Institute in Paris, because no other country in the world, even France, has three Pasteur Institutes like Việt Nam. Cooperation activities between the Pasteur Institutes of the two countries in recent years have been important and effective on the basis of the good relationship between the two countries and the two governments, he said.

Agreeing with proposals put forth by the Vietnamese leader, he lauded the vision and viewpoints of PM Chính on the vaccine strategy to prepare for possible circumstances in the future. 

Professor Cole affirmed that Pasteur Institute in Paris wants and is ready to strengthen cooperation with the Vietnamese side in the medical sector, particularly in human resource exchange and training, implementing joint researches and sharing research results, especially in the field of vaccine, and health crisis management, thus making bilateral medical cooperation more effective and practical to serve people's lives and health. — VNS