A delegation from the JICA Vietnam Office visits Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City on Wednesday. — Photo courtesy of Chợ Rẫy Hospital

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided aid packages worth 80 million JPY (US$733.300) to support Việt Nam’s countermeasures against COVID-19.

The first part of the aid package worth 60 million JPY ($550,000) to Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City includes 2,000 copies of the Nosocomial Infection Control Manual, handed over to the Chợ Rẫy Hospital by JICA Vietnam Office on Wednesday.

Another package worth 20 million JPY ($183,300) will be given to six provincial Centres of Disease Control (CDCs) in Nam Định, Hà Giang, Bắc Giang, Vĩnh Phúc, Kiên Giang and Trà Vinh provinces.

With technical input from JICA experts, Chợ Rẫy Hospital’s Department of Infection Control developed the manual which is expected to improve infection control activities at the Chợ Rẫy Việt Nam-Japan Friendship Hospital and 21 provincial hospitals in the southern region, which are under Chợ Rẫy Hospital’s guidance and support.

Speaking at a meeting with a delegation of the JICA Vietnam Office at Chợ Rẫy Hospital on Wednesday, Nguyễn Tri Thức, director of Chợ Rẫy Hospital, said the hospital was one of the first hospitals in Việt Nam to receive support from JICA, beginning in 1969.

The hospital is working with JICA to build the Chợ Rẫy Việt Nam -Japan Friendship Hospital, Thức said.

JICA has helped Chợ Rẫy Hospital improve patient safety management and develop a multi-professional approach and infection control through the “Improvement of Hospital Management Competency” project that targets patient-oriented and high-quality medical services.

The project also improves hospital management capabilities.

In August 2019, to strengthen Chợ Rẫy’s nosocomial infection control capacity, the JICA project provided training on usage of personal protective equipment to doctors and nurses at the hospital.

Prior to the first confirmed patient with COVID-19 in January at Chợ Rẫy, JICA experts provided materials and conducted training sessions on nosocomial infection control at the hospital.

Since 2006, JICA has installed biosafety level-three laboratories that enable safe handling of highly hazardous pathogens at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) and the Pasteur Institute in HCM City (PIHCMC).

JICA has also offered help to improve laboratory diagnoses of infectious pathogens. Based on this support, NIHE and PIHCMC have been able to test for COVID-19.

JICA experts are working with NIHE and PIHCMC to strengthen the examination capabilities and collaboration network of provincial CDCs in Việt Nam.