Viet Nam has received and successfully treated a UN staff member who contracted COVID-19 while working in a regional country and suffered from critical conditions, at the request of the UN. 

The patient was brought to Viet Nam by a plane run by the UN Emergency Chartered Medical Evacuation Services (MEDEVAC).

After undergoing intensive treatment in a strict quarantine process, and thanks to expertise and dedicated care of Vietnamese doctors and nurses, the patient had fully recovered and been discharged from hospital. The UN staff member left Viet Nam on June 15 to come back to work.

It was the first time Viet Nam received and treated a patient as a UN staff member under the MEDEVAC mechanism, marking a new development in the Viet Nam – UN comprehensive partnership. 

The deed once again affirmed Vietnam’s humane tradition, willingness and commitment to contribute to international cooperation in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Especially, UN Under-Secretary General Atul Khare lauded the significance of the deed, saying it helped the UN fulfill its tasks in the region. He also expressed wish to receive more support from Viet Nam in the near future.

On the occasion, he also thanked Vietnam for continuing to send medical workers to the leve-2 field hospital in South Sudan and giving COVID-19 vaccine shots to them before departure.

MEDEVAC was set up with the aim of creating a global framework to provide emergency evacuation for severely ill UN staff members who require a level of care not available at their locations. Many countries in and outside the region engaged in the reception and treatment for them via the MEDEVAC mechanism.

The UN, through the COVAX Facility, had already sent nearly 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Viet Nam, out of a total of 38.9 million doses it committed to provide for the country./.