Vietnam’s government is looking for more official development assistance (ODA) and grants to carry out health projects, including those worth hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars to build new hospitals. The nation expects to seek loans from Japan, the WB and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for new hospitals, as well as grassroots clinics and preventive medicine centers in the Mekong Delta. The projects to be implemented in the health sector in the coming time include the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Cho Ray Hospital project worth $300 million, human resource development costing $120 million financed by the World Bank, and projects on malaria, tubercular, and HIV/AIDS prevention at $158 million by the Global Fund. In 2014, the government signed deals on nearly $170 million worth of ODA loans and grants for medical equipment, pharmaceutical purchase and training projects, according to a report of the Ministry of Health. The report showed a $116 million training project funded by the WB, a $15 million malaria prevention project by the Global Fund, an $18.5 million project by the World Health Organization, a financial assistance project worth EUR114 million by the European Union in non-refundable aid, and a South Korea-funded project costing $19 million on medical equipment purchase for the Central Ear-Nose-Throat Hospital. (thesaigontimes.vn Jan 21)
