Vietnam PM Oks $15M Project to Upgrade General Hospital in Hanoi

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a project worth $15 million to upgrade the Central Hospital of Transport and Communications in Hanoi in a bid to meet the rising demand of locals. The 400-sickbed hospital now has 18 wards and 5 function rooms and 338 health workers, the government said on its website July 13. Established in 1956, the hospital, formerly known as the Railway Hospital, was initially aimed to provide medical checkups and treatment for railway staff and passengers. The communist country now has 13,600 state and private-owned hospitals with 172,500 sickbeds.