A group of Vietnamese doctors, who are serving the Vietnamese level-2 field hospital under the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, have successfully transported and given emergency treatment to a severe COVID-19 patient staying nearly 500km to the east of their garrison.

The patient is a female employee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who had been ill for about five days with difficulty breathing, but she had not received any treatment, according to an announcement of Vietnam’s level-2 field hospital No. 3 on Sunday. 

Upon receiving reports on the case, the management board of the hospital convened an urgent meeting and decided to dispatch an Aeromedical Evacuation Team (AMET) to the location of the patient in Bunj, a border town in the Upper Nile State of South Sudan.

The AMET then successfully carried the patient for 500km to the capital city of Juba for treatment.

“As soon as the plane landed, we gave first aid to the patient on the spot, measured her oxygen saturation and gave her oxygen supply, encouraged her and brought her on the plane,” said Lieutenant Huynh Van Khanh, a member of the AMET. 

“During the flight, the patient showed signs of fatigue and shortness of breath that increased when the plane took off, but the issues were promptly handled.”

The AMET’s mission is to stay ready for emergency air transport in its designated area.

During the nine months of its mission, the AMET has handled 15 cases of emergency aid and transport by air, including many serious illnesses such as acute myocardial infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

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