Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Health Ministry’s Department for Management of Medical Examination and Treatment, addresses the ceremony in Hanoi on May 12 (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) –
The held a ceremony in Hanoi on May 12 to mark the
and affirm the role of nurses and midwives in public
health care, especially when the pandemic is still raging around the
world.
This year’s
International Nurses Day (May 12) coincides with the bicentenary of Florence
Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. The (WHO)
and the International Council of Nurses also designated 2020 as the International
Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
Highlighting nurses
and midwives’ important contributions to the provision of medical services,
Director of the Health Ministry’s Department for Management of Medical
Examination and Treatment Luong Ngoc Khue said nurses and midwives have also
effectively joined hands with other medical workers in the fight against
COVID-19.
At present, Vietnam
is one of the five countries that have successfully contained the pandemic, and
nurses and midwives have considerably helped to secure this success, according
to him.
However, Vietnam is
still facing a shortage of nurses and midwives, Chairman of the Vietnam Nurses
Association Pham Duc Muc noted, elaborating that the ratio of these
professionals in Vietnam remains low – about 11 nurses per 10,000 people, which
is two and three times lower than in Thailand and Malaysia, respectively.
Due to the shortage,
the country has yet to be able to provide comprehensive care for patients,
which also means patients still need their relatives or hire others to support
them in hospitals, he admitted.
At the ceremony, WHO
Representative in Vietnam Kidong Park recommended the country invest more in the
education and empowerment of nurses and midwives, noting that WHO pledges to
stand side by side with Vietnam in manpower training in this regard./.
Source: VietnamPlus
