Military Medical Depot 706 is a strategic-level unit under the Military Medical Department (MMD), the General Department of Logistics (GDL), tasked with stockpiling goods for combat readiness and combat, receiving, storing, and allocating medicine, chemicals, bandages, and medical devices to affiliates of military regions, corps, and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) from Da Nang southwards and especially in key areas, such as Central Highlands, Southwest, Truong Sa Islands, and DK1 Platforms. A part from advantages, the Depot has been confronted with a lot of difficulties. It has to ensure medical equipment of various types in a large area and for a large number of troops; however, its organisational structure has been increasingly streamlined. Many of its staff members have experienced difficult circumstances. COVID-19 pandemic tends to be durable and complex. Against such a backdrop, cadres, employees, and soldiers of the Depot have always brought into play self-reliance, unity, and determination to overcome difficulties and build a regular, modern Depot capable of meeting criteria of “good medicine storage.” It should be noted that in spite of negative impacts made by COVID-19, the Depot has actively taken part in pandemic prevention and control, sufficiently provided medical equipment and materials for forces performing their tasks at sea, on Truong Sa Islands, and in DK1 Platforms, and repaired medical machinery and equipment for units’ infirmaries and medical treatment teams stationed in remote, isolated, border, sea, island areas. With those significant achievements, the Depot has been given the Third-Class Homeland Protection Order by the State; it has been presented with the Certificate of Merit for its achievements in COVID-19 prevention and control by Prime Minister. To obtain those good results, the Depot’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on drastically, synchronously adopting measures to create synergy for building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Depot.

First of all, the building of a politically strong Depot has been seen as a core, consistent measure. Grounded on higher echelons’ guiding documents, the Depot has sufficiently fulfilled annual political education plans, contents, and programmes for its staff members. Emphasis has been placed on rendering cadres, employees, and soldiers fully aware of the Party’s guidelines on the Homeland protection in the new situation and the tasks of the Military, the GDL, the MMD, and the Depot. Political education has been closely combined with ideological orientation, management, assessment, and classification. Offices and units of the Depot have enhanced the fight against hostile forces’ sabotage strategy against our Party, State, and Military, while opportunely rectifying wrongdoings by collectives and individuals during the performance of their missions. Due attention has been paid to building pure, strong party organisations, strong mass organisations, and a contingent of cadres and party members to meet their task requirements. All-level party committees have enhanced the work of internal political protection, mass mobilisation, the Determination to Win Emulation Movement, particularly the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle and the Campaign titled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period. As a result, cadres, employees, and soldiers of the Depot have always shown their political zeal against the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”; they have been fully aware of advantages and difficulties and heightened a sense of responsibility to undertake and successfully fulfil all assigned missions.

In addition to combat readiness and military training, the Depot has attached great value to raising the quality of military standard order building and discipline management. This measure is of critical importance to a strategic-level depot. As the Depot is assigned to supply medical equipment for a large number of troops in a large area, it always faces the risks of fire or explosion; hence, military standard order building and discipline management acts as a determinant to its task performance. To that end, the Depot’s Party Committee and Command have frequently directed their affiliates to strictly abide by regulations and directives by the Military, the GDL, and the MMD on military standard order building and discipline management during COVID-19 prevention and control. Offices and units of the Depot have been required to stringently maintain their strength and regulations on combat readiness, duty, and report. Due attention has been paid to closely managing cadres, employees, and soldiers, particularly those performing their missions far from their units. Materials and goods at storehouses have always been arranged in a hygienic, scientific, safe manner under the Military Medical Branch’s regulations. The release and warehousing of materials and goods have been controlled on the intranet. On a weekly basis, inspections of safety and hygiene regulations at storehouses, barracks, and workplaces have been carried out at all levels. The use of cars, motorbikes, and flammable materials has been under regulations set by the MND, the GDL, and the MMD. Maintenance regulations on a daily and weekly basis have been seriously executed. As a result, for many consecutive years, the Depot has recorded no violation of discipline and safety regulations.

To meet its more demanding task requirements, the Depot has concentrated on bettering the performance of its professional work. Due to the streamlining of its organisational structure, the Depot has quickly applied information technology to completing statutes on warehouse management and developing procedures and regulations on allocation, reception, examination, and control under standards of Good Storage Practice (GSP). It has strictly followed directives on reserving strategic goods and military medical materials for combat readiness with proper quantity, good quality, and longest expiry dates. Notably, it has well implemented higher echelons’ directives on packing and delivering units of materials for forces tasked with combat readiness and natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control. It is worth noting that in recent years, the Depot has packed and supplied thousands of units of materials for forces to opportunely perform their tasks of sea and island protection and natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control. At the same time, the Depot has given instructions to Naval Brigade 189’s Military Medical Office on building medicine cabinets on submarines under the Order by Commander of the MMD.

Additionally, the Depot has quickly, opportunely, sufficiently allocated more than 1,000 tons of medical equipment for military units under its higher echelons’ regular and irregular directives, with priority given to units stationed in Central Highlands, Southwest, and border, sea, island areas. It has organised hundreds of deliveries of goods to affiliates of Army Corps 3, Naval Zone 4, Military Region 5, and Military Region 9 opportunely and safely. Notably, despite difficulties in sources of goods, within a short period of time prior to Tet holidays, cadres and employees of the Depot had packed thousands of units of medical materials for Truong Sa Islands and DK1 Platforms. Besides, it has arranged and managed its medical equipment scientifically under regulations set by the MMD, and strictly maintained the quality of medical equipment. It has organised business trips to examine and repair hundreds of pieces of military medical equipment for military units, while repairing and maintaining its own cooling systems. Besides, it has promoted a lot of initiatives to improve its task performance. Many of its researches have been accepted and effectively applied to packing units of medical materials and equipment for Truong Sa Islands and DK, Y, and K missions.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, under the direction from the MND and the MMD, the Depot has focused on receiving and preparing sources of goods for pandemic prevention and control opportunely, effectively. It is worth noting that at the onset of the pandemic, medical materials on the market had been scarce, and their prices had continuously skyrocketed. However, the Depot has proactively received and allocated more than 270 tons of goods to 35 military units and 3 field hospitals for infectious diseases. Besides, the Depot has proactively inspected medical machinery and equipment for pandemic prevention and control at the request, such as continuous dialysis machine, ECMO system, and ventilator, while installing medical machinery and equipment for COVID-19 treatment at field hospitals for infectious diseases within Ho Chi Minh City. It has received, safely stored, and opportunely distributed more than 700,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines of various types to 17 military vaccination centres. While preserving and transporting COVID-19 vaccines, it has diversified means of cold storage under regulations set by the Ministry of Health, thereby making contributions to ensuring the quality of vaccines and being highly appreciated by all-level commands and professional offices. More importantly, it has directly organised 120 deliveries of vaccines even in days off and rest hours to opportunely facilitate military units’ vaccination work.

Thanks to those above-mentioned measures, there has been a considerable positive change in the performance of the Depot’s political task as a contribution to successfully fulfilling the “dual goals” of the Military and the whole country. Bringing into play those recorded results, in the time to come, cadres, employees, and soldiers of Military Medical Depot 706 will continue heightening a sense of unity and determination to overcome difficulties, well perform their assigned missions, and build an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Depot.

Sr. Col. LUONG NGOC DUE, MA, Head of the Depot