HÀ NỘI — A group of 25 recent graduates from medical school will work in remote areas as part of the Ministry of Health's project to dispatch more doctors to the country’s poorest provinces.

The ministry on Tuesday held a graduation ceremony for the young doctors who studied at Hà Nội Medical University, Huế University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and Hải Phòng University of Medicine and Pharmacy.

The doctors will be divided into small groups that will work in 16 poor mountainous districts in the provinces of Hà Giang, Lào Cai, Yên Bái, Bắc Giang, Bắc Kạn, Lai Châu, Lạng Sơn, Phú Thọ, Sơn La and Nghệ An.

Of the 25 doctors, 15 of them are ethnic Mông, Thái, Tày, Mường and Nùng.

The doctors were among 354 medical school students who enrolled in the Health Ministry's pilot project to send doctors to mountainous villages, border regions and remote islands.

Launched in February 2013, the pilot project seeks to provide a sustainable, high-quality resource of medical personnel for remote regions.

Its aim is to dispatch between 300 and 500 young doctors to the poorest provinces by 2021.

So far, 77 graduates have been sent to 13 provinces in northern and central Việt Nam.

Geographical difficulties and chronic poverty in these areas are key challenges to recruiting doctors to work at the underprivileged communities there.

Reports from health departments in the 62 poorest districts have identified a shortage of 598 doctors who are needed to ensure local healthcare standards.

Seven medical field in desperate need of more doctors are internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics,

resuscitation and emergency medicine, infectious diseases, and medical imaging. — VNS