Truong Viet Dung, Head of the Science Research and Training Department under the Ministry of Health talked about healthcare cooperation between Vietnam and Sweden in an interview granted to VOV. Following are the excerpts from the interview.

VOV: Could you brief us on medical cooperation between Vietnam and Sweden?

Mr Dung: Sweden is second only to the World Health Organisation in providing aid to help train Vietnamese medical staff. Its training methods are different from other countries. Sweden starts by training staff at a grassroots level who will then be trained to teach their local peers. Not only Swedish but other leading international specialists have been invited to provide expertise for Vietnamese medical professionals. They have also compiled handbooks.

In brief, Sweden is also one of the main Western nations that has kept providing much needed assistance for training Vietnamese medical staff, particularly since the 1990s.  

VOV: Apart from personnel training, what other areas has Sweden assisted Vietnam so far?

Mr Dung: Sweden has helped Vietnam develop medical schools and colleges. Its specialists have also consulted us on all programmes in Vietnam’s public health and medical training system. Sweden was the first foreign partner to train medical managers in Vietnam. Professor Pham Song who is now the chairman of the Vietnam Medical Association is one of the programme’s most outstanding students. He has successfully implemented staff training and other medical programmes in Vietnam. I think Sweden has helped Vietnam develop in a sustainable way with its programmes teaching people to become teachers themselves.

VOV: Over the past 40 years, joint health projects between Vietnam and Sweden have resulted in a variety of products and medical models. How have these products been used?

Mr Dung: This is one of the positive results of the project. Its products and training materials were initially used for project beneficiaries and were then used widely across the country. Many materials on medical management, primary health care and manuals for daily check-ups and treatment are useful in the current training activities at medical schools and colleges.

In addition, Sweden has helped develop six basic medical models, including the safe community model and the community-based education model, so that local people in disadvantaged areas can gain easier access to modern healthcare services.

VOV: Will Sweden continue to provide Vietnam with more such training?

Mr Dung: Thanks to the success of the cooperation programme, the Swedish Government has decided to shift the medical cooperation model between the two countries from development assistance to direct, bilateral and equal cooperation. In the field of training, its funded projects now account for a smaller proportion than in previous years. We will think of new cooperation models, for instance, Vietnam could send staff to Sweden to study using its own funds instead of the traditional support from Sweden.