Vietnamese Embassy in India redoubles citizen protection efforts amid COVID-19 fight

Do Thanh Hai, counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy in India, shared these ongoing efforts taken to protect lives during an interview recently granted to a VOV correspondent based in New Delhi.

At present, new infections, fresh outbreaks, and a rising death toll have put India's health system on the verge of collapse, coupled with the high risk of infection and the emergence of several variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Due to these circumstances, the Vietnamese community residing in India is in need of attention and great help as it strives to fight these ongoing difficulties.

In relation to the current situation of the Vietnamese community in India, Hai said there have been six repatriation flights launched so far, with the number of Vietnamese nationals remaining in India being relatively low, with approximately 100 people scattered across several Indian states.

People currently residing in India face plenty of difficulties in terms of traveling and purchasing necessities because of lockdown and curfew orders. In addition, the risk of disease remains very high, with a lack of medical facilities available for individuals once infected.

“Most infected Indians are treated by themselves at home. They only go to hospitals after their illness get worst. Presently all hospitals have a shortage of medicines, beds, oxygen, ventilators, and intensive care units. As such, it is not eligible to care for the sick.

The next challenge is psychological and emotional pressure. People who live far from their hometowns and in a pandemic environment deal with plenty of challenges in their life with a very stressful mentality,” Hai stated.

Upon discussing relevant solutions aimed at supporting the Vietnamese community based in India, the Vietnamese counselor noted that since the initial outbreak of the pandemic, one of the main priorities of the Embassy and its representative offices has been to protect citizens and repatriate Vietnamese nationals home as part of pandemic containment efforts.

Most notably, the six repatriation flights put on have successfully brought home roughly 1,000 Vietnamese citizens, with only approximately 100 remaining in the South Asian nation. As such, the Vietnamese Embassy is always able to maintain contact with Vietnamese nationals via hotlines as they listen to their opinions and learn about the difficulties they are facing.

“We have also provided direct support. For example, in some difficult cases, such as recently, there was a Vietnamese construction engineers in India infected with the disease and some cases progressed seriously. The Vietnamese Embassy had to work together with relevant agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India to taken such patients to hospital for treatment.

During the working process, many embassy officials have also contracted the disease. But we still take the principle of putting the mission first, with a particular focus on both maintaining the health of staff members, and supporting the Vietnamese community. This has been done along with fulfilling tasks assigned by the Party and the State,” Hai added.