Japan to Assist Vietnam in Upgrading 10 Hospitals amid Severe Overload

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health May 4 kick-started the second phase of a project to upgrade ten hospitals nationwide using Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) loans, heard a seminar in Hanoi.
The ten hospitals include Danang C Hospital in Danang central city; general hospitals in provinces of Binh Dinh, Ninh Thuan, Tay Ninh Lam Dong, Bac Giang; paediatric hospitals in provinces of Thai Binh and Nghe An; and obstetrics hospital in Nam Dinh. The five-year project has an investment capital of JPY10 billion, including over JPY8 billion from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The project is aimed to better healthcare services for local citizens, in terms of both quantity and quality as well as reduce the number of fatalities without identified causes and that of infectious cases by 10%.
The project focuses on purchasing medical facilities, improving medical worker capacity and expertise, and using as well as maintaining medical equipment. The project’s first phase was implemented in 2008-2011, resulting in the selection of 10 hospitals for upgrading in the second phase. At the conference, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen highlighted the importance of the project in the context that the medical sector is facing many difficulties and deprivations. (www.vietnamplus.vn May 4)