The working delegation of the Ministry of Health of Angola was led by Mr. Baptista João Monteiro, Director of the National Department of Human Resources. Participating in the delegation were Mr. Joaquim Avelino Artus, Head of Public Hospitals; Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngan Thanh, Head of the Management Board of Medical Experts in Angola; along with representatives from the Department of Science, Technology and Training (Ministry of Health of Viet Nam).

On the side of Bach Mai Hospital, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Xuan Co, Director of the Hospital, chaired the working session. Also attending were leaders of institutes, centers, departments, and offices under the Hospital.

Speaking at the working session, Mr. Baptista João Monteiro expressed his delight upon visiting Bach Mai Hospital, while emphasizing the traditional friendship and long-standing close relationship between Viet Nam and Angola. Over the past decades, the Government of Viet Nam has supported Angola in training human resources and dispatched many medical experts to work there, contributing to improving the quality of healthcare for the local people.

Highly appreciating the professional capacity and training experience of Bach Mai Hospital, the representative of the Ministry of Health of Angola expressed the desire for both sides to research and develop specialized training programs for Angolan doctors and nurses in Viet Nam. Alongside sending medical staff to study at Bach Mai Hospital, the Angolan side also proposed that the Hospital dispatch experts to provide on-site training, support human resource development, and transfer techniques suitable to the practical needs of their country's healthcare system.

On behalf of more than 4,000 officials, public employees, and workers of Bach Mai Hospital, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Xuan Co warmly welcomed the working delegation of the Ministry of Health of Angola to visit and work at the Hospital. The Hospital Director affirmed that, despite being geographically distant, Viet Nam and Angola share many similarities in their historical struggle for national independence, construction, and development. Medical cooperation has long become one of the prominent highlights in the friendly relations between the two countries.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Xuan Co stated that over the past decades, Bach Mai Hospital has dispatched numerous batches of medical officials and experts to Angola, directly supporting medical examination, treatment, and healthcare for the people of the friendly nation.

Introducing the capabilities of the Hospital, the Director of Bach Mai Hospital stated that this is a special-grade complete general hospital, the national apex tier, possessing strengths in many specialized fields such as critical care and emergency medicine, cardiology, stroke, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, oncology, infectious diseases, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory testing. The Hospital currently has two facilities with a scale of thousands of hospital beds; and simultaneously owns a training system including the Bach Mai Institute for Medical and Pharmaceutical Research and Training, the Bach Mai Medical College, along with a network of specialized institutes, centers, and departments with extensive experience in training, tier guidance, and technology transfer.

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Xuan Co, each year Bach Mai Hospital receives a large number of trainees from domestic medical facilities and universities as well as many countries to study, research, and undertake clinical practice. With its existing capabilities, the Hospital is fully capable of designing training programs tailored to Angola's needs, ranging from specialized training for doctors and nurses to accepting trainees for practical training in clinical units.

The Director of Bach Mai Hospital affirmed that the Hospital is ready to welcome Angolan doctors and nurses for training; at the same time, it can dispatch expert delegations to Angola to guide practice, provide hands-on instruction ("hand-in-hand" guidance), and transfer techniques over a period of one to three months. This is a model that the Hospital has effectively deployed in professional support and technology transfer activities for numerous medical facilities, helping local staff gradually master new techniques.

During the discussion session, the Angolan side highly appreciated the readiness for cooperation of Bach Mai Hospital, and opined that the scope of operations, patient volume, and professional capacity of the Hospital are clear evidence of the prestige of a leading medical facility in Viet Nam.

Based on the cooperation framework discussed with the Ministry of Health of Viet Nam, the working delegation proposed researching and building a "twinning hospital" model between Bach Mai Hospital and a major hospital in Angola, creating a foundation for a long-term, regular, and increasingly deep-rooted cooperative relationship.

The representative of the Ministry of Health of Angola stated that the Government of Angola is ready to ensure the necessary conditions to facilitate the implementation of cooperation programs in the coming period. The two sides agreed to continue coordinating with functional agencies to determine specific training needs, select priority specialties, and step by step formulate a cooperation plan suited to the capabilities and practical conditions of each side.

Office of the Hospital / Photo: Social Work Department