HÀ NỘI — An integration programme on military – civil medical services has created an extensive network of healthcare services and disease prevention and consolidated the country’s healthcare system at the grassroots over the past ten years.

Speaking at the fifth conference on military - civil medical service integration in Hà Nội on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam highlighted the programme’s contribution to people and soldier’s healthcare in remote, mountainous, border and island areas, along with protection and poverty reduction, in important defence and security regions of the country.

Đam said that the health and defence ministries should work closely in developing strategies for further consolidation of a healthcare system at the grassroot levels in border and island areas.

Along with infrastructure and facility investment, it needed to pay more attention to health and human resources and to expand effective models in the country’s weakest localities such as mountainous, remote, border and island areas.

The Deputy PM said that military hospitals not only performed traditional tasks of people’s healthcare and protection, disease and disaster prevention, but also provided medical services to local residents.

He suggested that the two ministries should promote the programme’s advantages in victim search and rescue during disasters and other emergency situations.

Deputy Health Minister Phạm Lê Tuấn said that in the near future, the programme would implement measures to develop a healthcare system at the grassroots level while ensuring military health services. 

The programme would focus its activities on providing needy people living in difficulties and key defence and security areas more access to quality healthcare, and promote the health sector’s abilities to respond to emergency situations, Tuấn said.

Tuấn said that the programme contributed to the country’s socio-economic development and defence and security consolidation from 2005 to 2015.

A network of 152 military – civil health clinics were established at border guard stations along the country’ border lines. Besides providing medical services, military medical staffs also participated in implementation of national health programmes such as immunisation, malaria and malnutrition prevention, population and family planning, according to Tuấn.

“Six health clinics were set up with modern facilities, especially operation rooms with telemedicine systems established in Bạch Long Vĩ, Phú Quý, and Thổ Chu islands,” Tuấn said.

The health ministry reports that the programme has an improved capacity of 529 commune health clinics nationwide with a total investment of more than VNĐ420 billion (US$18.7 million) during the past ten years.

Under the programme, more than 23 million residents were provided free health check-ups while more than 65,000 soldiers received medical services by civil doctors.

On the sea and island areas, military medical force also provided rescue services to over 6,641 people, including 1,885 soldiers and 4,756 residents.

The defence ministry has appointed helicopters to send 62 injured and sick patients from the island to the mainland for emergency service and treatment. — VNS