The 20 participants are experts from the MoH and from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH*, hospital leaders from seven hospitals, including the Hanoi-based Viet-Duc hospital, and managers from the Departments of Health (DoH) in Yen Bai and Thanh Hoa provinces.

As part of the program “Strengthening provincial health systems”, the tour aimed to gain knowledge from different institutions in Germany about how to plan, implement and manage such a telemedicine network. They learned at the German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) which steps a government needs to undertake in order to implement the network. Besides, participants also got hands-on experience from hospitals and private medical practices on how to make use of modern IT for treatment and knowledge transfer.

Speaking at the closing event, Vice Minister Nguyen Thị Xuyen highlighted the considerable potential of telemedicine for treating patients in Vietnam and the valuable experience all participants of the study tour had made.

The Vietnamese - German development cooperation’s program “Strengthening provincial health systems” has supported Vietnamese partners since 2009 and is commissioned and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). On behalf of BMZ, the program is implemented by GIZ.

During the 2009 - 2017 implementation period, the program targets at strengthening the capacity of provincial DoHs and decentralized health facilities in cost efficient health management and needs-based delivery of quality health services, with a major focus on preventive and curative services. The necessary equipment for the pilot telemedicine network will be provided through the financial cooperation with the KfW Development Bank./.

( VNF )