Defence Ministry officials, the Australian Consul General in HCM City and other delegates welcome the returning members of Level 2 Field Hospital Rotation 7. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Khu

HÀ NỘI — The Level 2 Field Hospital Rotation 7 has returned home after a year of UN peacekeeping in South Sudan, where its medical team treated more than 2,200 patients and performed over 30 emergency surgeries.

Deputy Defence Minister and Senior Lieutenant General Nguyễn Trường Thắng led a welcome ceremony at the military air base where the team landed on Sunday, attended by relatives of the hospital staff and Australian diplomats, including Consul General in HCM City Katherine Louise Grimmond.

Hospital Director and Lieutenant Colonel Trần Đức Tài said many of the surgeries involved complex cases or critically ill patients. The team also flew two wounded Bangladeshi soldiers to safety in an emergency air evacuation.

During the handover to its successor, Level 2 Field Hospital Rotation 8, the unit was down to just 12 staff in South Sudan, but kept its round-the-clock duty roster running, he said.

Deputy Defence Minister Nguyễn Trường Thắng and Australian Consul General in HCM City Katherine Louise Grimmond present gifts to members of Level 2 Field Hospital Rotation 7. — Photo cand.vn

Beyond patient care, the hospital drew up disease prevention plans, introduced hospital management software and produced 17 scientific papers. Four were published in international journals ranked in the second and third quartiles.

Major General Phạm Mạnh Thắng, director of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said the hospital had become a trusted source of care for UN personnel, local officials and residents.

International colleagues and patients praised the staff's professionalism, while the hospital worked closely with the UN mission on community outreach, he added.

For many of the returning staff, the homecoming was also a family reunion. Lieutenant Colonel Trần Thuận Trang, the hospital's administrative chief, was greeted by her husband with a surprise gift — a giant teddy bear.

Lieutenant Colonel Trần Thuận Trang receives a big teddy bear from her husband. — Photo cand.vn

It was her third peacekeeping tour. He had joked that if she deployed again, he would give her a bigger teddy bear when she came home.

"The hospital was like a shared home. We lived with the love and support of our comrades, and that eased the homesickness," Trang said.  — VNS

Reunion joy. — VNA/VNS Photo