Military Hospital 175, which is the highest-level general hospital and military medical centre in the South of the Ministry of National Defence (MND), is tasked with providing healthcare for leaders of the Party, State, and People’s Army, war invalids, sick soldiers, cadres and soldiers of the armed forces, people in the South, and high-ranking officials of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. It is also a leading centre for scientific research and international cooperation in medicine; provides practice training in medicine and pharmacy for both military and civilian training institutions; gives professional instructions to lower-level hospitals and military medical elements of military units in the South; prepares field hospitals for participating in UN peacekeeping operations; builds the military medical forces on the Spratlys and at southern Viet Nam waters, and so on. Recently, thanks to attention and investment from the State and MND, the Hospital has been carrying out many projects; developed some institutes and specialist centres under its direct leadership; built a multi-purpose emergency centre; and put the 1,000-bed general hospital into operation. It continues to prepare the 5th Level-2 Field Hospital for participating in UN peacekeeping operations. Meanwhile, the infrastructure has not been developed synchronously. Life of medical cadres and employees is still full of difficulties. Professional competence and communication skills of some cadres and employees have failed to meet requirements and missions, exerting enormous influence on service quality of the Hospital.

On perceiving their missions, the Hospital Party Committee and Board of Directors have focused leadership of building a corps of cadres and employees with political steadfastness, dedication to work, professional competence, research skills, capabilities to master specialist treatment techniques, and task accomplishment, thereby beautifying fine dignity of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” and military doctors. Therefore, there are over 450,000 people receiving treatment at the Hospital annually, which is equal to its full capacity. Additionally, the Hospital provides good healthcare for military personnel and people living on the Spratly Islands and at the southern waters of the country; conducts intra- and inter-hospital emergency; well carries out preventive medicine and responds to natural disasters and pandemics; and successfully completes its jobs in UN missions, thus being awarded the Order of Peacekeeping by the UN. More importantly, given its outstanding achievements in prevention and response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hospital has been given the first-class Order of Combat Merit by the State. Five organisations and eight individuals have received third-, second-, and first-class Orders of Labour, bringing the Hospital to a new height.

On the basis of their achievements, many lessons have been drawn by the Hospital Party Committee and Board of Director, which serve as guidelines and solutions to the building of medical cadres and employees with qualities and capabilities on a par with requirements and missions.

First, attention is paid to development of a corps of cadres and employees with political steadfastness, good ethics, and healthy lifestyle. The Hospital and its administrative and medical departments promote propagation and education with a view to making medical cadres and employees deeply imbued with President Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and teaching for doctors; nature, traditions, and missions of the People’s Army, Military Medicine, and the Hospital; medical ethics of famous physicians such as Tue Tinh, Hai Thuong Lan Ong, Le Huu Trac, and so forth. They also specify medical ethics of the corps of physicians in general and the military ones in the context of complex developments of today’s social life; point out shining examples of dedication to patients regardless of hardships, difficulties, and pressure from the market economy. During the educational process, the Hospital has closely combined theory with professional activities; concentrated on making all cadres and employees well aware of principles and moral standards of physicians; associated cultivation of medical ethics with successful implementation of the “Determination to Win” Emulation Movement as well as major movements and campaigns of the Party, State, People’s Army, and Military Medicine, including promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new situation; “Building 5-good military medical units”; “Military medical soldiers follow Uncle Ho’s teaching.” In pursuing medical practice, the Hospital always strengthens inspection and supervision aimed at encouraging, praising, and rewarding cadres and employees with outstanding achievements as well as prominent examples of “good people, good deeds,” and medical ethics. Moreover, the Hospital regularly sends its doctors and employees to deliver medical examination and treatment in remote areas, thus letting them feel and understand soldiers’ and people’s hardships and difficulties, gathering momentum for their noble job to treat the disease and save the patient. The Hospital Party Committee and Board of Directors request their medical cadres and employees to bring into play their responsibility and wholeheartedly dedication to treatment of patients; say no to bureaucracy and activities that cause annoyance to patients and their relatives, etc., contributing to creation of fine images of the “Military physicians 175” in people’s hearts.

Second, building of a corps of medical cadres and employees who “possess medical ethics, have a profound understanding of medical theory, are good at art of healing, and have sound medical practice” on a par with development requirements is a key, pressing, enduring solution receiving much attention from the Hospital. Accordingly, the Hospital Party Committee and Board of Directors focus leadership of developing training plans for leading specialist cadres and promising young cadres; raising cadres’ professional knowledge within their specialists. To fulfil these goals, over the past few years, the Hospital has constantly attached importance to increase of professional competence and creation of a favourable environment for the physicians to bring into play their talent and intelligence during task execution. By means of various concrete, effective measures, the Hospital has actively reformed training contents and programs to ensure a match for practical requirements of each specialist; attached importance to retraining and on-site practice under the motto “the more experienced and qualified physicians train the newly graduated students” Functional bodies and each department, division, centre, and hospital regularly review and propose sending medical cadres and employees to civilian and military training institutions both at home and abroad. The Hospital has established medical cooperative relationships with over 40 partners from 11 countries such as the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, South Korea, etc., and the Cho Ray General Hospital, the Oncology Hospital at Ho Chi Minh City, the 108 Military Central Hospital, and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City. It has attached importance to research, management, and application of scientific projects; proposed preferential policies to attract, preserve, and develop high-quality human resources. Consequently, medical cadres and employees have opportunities to study, receive transfer, and master new, modern technologies, enabling them to reach international standards.

Apart from the above-mentioned measures, the Hospital pays regular attention to building of comprehensively strong organisations; strict maintenance of operational regulations; and material, spiritual life of medical cadres and personnel. During the analysis and evaluation of party organisations and members, party committees have shown due regard to combination between demands of a party member and those of a medical cadre; strictly followed regulations and principles of party meeting, especially the principle of democratic centralism, self-criticism, and criticism, as well as regulations on study, meeting, promulgation of resolutions, inspection, and supervision. The Hospital Party Committee and Board of Directors have constantly attached importance to leadership solutions aimed to address shortcomings specified after review, self-criticism, and criticism according to Resolutions of the 4th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (12th and 13th tenures), especially those concerning political ideology, morality, lifestyle, and discipline compliance. The military personnel councils and mass organisations are strengthened to increase their operating quality. Given the patient-centric motto, which aims to create the most favourable conditions and reduce patients’ waiting time, the Hospital continues to make breakthroughs in discipline training and administrative reform; pays great attention to renewal of working style and strict maintenance of daily professional exchanges, consultation, and emergency duty to ensure professional safety, traffic safety, and food safety. Additionally, it shows due regard to improvement of medical cadres’ and employees’ material, spiritual life such as provision of defence living accommodation; reform of preferential policies towards people participating in peacekeeping operations, working in the Spratlys, doing courses; provision of wage subsidies, etc., enabling them to keep their minds at their work and complete assigned tasks.

Owing to synchronous and effective adoption of the aforementioned measures, the medical cadres and employees become more and more mature in every aspect and are able to gain confidence of cadres, soldiers, and people going to the Hospital, thereby enhancing its prestige as a leading military hospital in the South. This will lay the foundation for the Hospital to become a region-class, intensive, multi-purpose, medical complex; a premium class hospital, and a centre for military medicine, training, technological transfer, and international cooperation in the South.

Major General, Distinguished Doctor, Doctor of Medicine TRAN QUOC VIET, Secretary of the Party Committee, Director of the Hospital