"Mobile Red Cross" in the middle of the ocean: A support for fishermen to stay at sea

One afternoon during the voyage on Ship 561 delivering Tet gifts from all over the country to Truong Sa archipelago, the group of reporters witnessed a "special" meeting between fishermen and Vietnamese navy soldiers in the middle of the vast ocean and sky.

At that time, fishing boat KH 95724TS captained by Mr. Phan Tai (Ninh Thuy, Khanh Hoa) approached boat 561. Mr. Phan Tai and the crew members kept shouting "Give me a bag of rice, we're out of rice!".

While all the reporters on board quickly rushed to the stern to take photos and record the work, the crew of ship 561 urgently guided the fishing boat to approach safely and prepared rice, vegetables, and spices to support the fishermen.

Perhaps only reporters would use the word “special” to describe this meeting. As for the officers and soldiers of Ship 561, meeting, supporting, rescuing… fishing boats and fishermen in the middle of the East Sea is extremely familiar.

Captain Pham Van An, Captain of Ship 561, Squadron 411, Brigade 955, Naval Region 4, said that Ship 561 is a general transport and medical ship. In the middle of the ocean, the large Red Cross on the ship's hull is like a fulcrum for fishermen to confidently go out to sea.

Whenever fishing in the Truong Sa archipelago or in the East Sea, fishermen will see the “red cross” from afar when they need support with medicine, food, and even repair of machinery and boats. Or when there is a situation requiring urgent contact with the shore, ship 561 also supports with the spirit of being ready to accompany the fishermen.

“Supporting fishermen is part of our mission. Above all, the presence of fishermen at sea is a firm affirmation of Vietnam’s sovereignty over its seas and islands,” Captain Pham Van An emphasized.

According to Captain Hong Long, Political Commissar of Ship 561, each year, the ship makes 4-5 trips, carrying working delegations to visit and encourage officers, soldiers and people of Truong Sa archipelago. In addition, the ship is also responsible for periodically supplying food, dry food, canned goods and frozen goods to the islands, rigs and combat-ready ships. Organizing health check-ups, first aid and treatment for officers, soldiers operating at sea and on islands and transporting sick people to the mainland.

In 2023, ship 561 will conduct rescue operations for ships in distress at sea, provide food, supplies, and medicine to nearly 40 fishermen and fishing boats, and transport 10 injured fishermen to the mainland.

Regularly operating in difficult weather conditions, with strong winds and waves, the officers and soldiers of Ship 561 have demonstrated their determination to complete all assigned tasks. Accordingly, to support the reporter team in their work and make the trip a success, Ship 561 has organized medical, logistics, technical, and service teams to successfully complete this mission.

In particular, in difficult weather conditions, the crew may not be able to adapt and get seasick, so the medical team has prepared seasickness medicine and is ready to provide timely attention and support to the forces on board.

Lieutenant Le Quang Trieu, Chief of the electromechanical department of ship 561, shared: “Before each journey, we always prepare equipment, especially machinery. Because in difficult and harsh weather conditions, equipment failure is inevitable. Therefore, there must always be spare equipment to replace at sea. In case of an accident or damage to a fishing boat, we can also support and help repair equipment for fishing boats.”

Having been attached to ship 561 since its establishment in 2012, military medical major and doctor Phan Van Linh said that ship 561 is a general transport and military medical ship. This is the only ship of the Navy equipped with a system of machinery equivalent to a district hospital.

The ship has a medical team of 12 people, including 4 doctors and 8 nurses. With the scale of a general hospital, the ship has 3 patient rooms, 15 beds and full functional rooms: X-ray room, operating room, endoscopy room, ultrasound room, dental-maxillofacial examination room, post-operative room... In particular, the ship also has a pressure chamber - one of the most modern rooms for treating serious diseases such as decompression, emergency services and treatment for fishermen who encounter dangerous complications when diving deep to exploit seafood. At the same time, the ship has an ultrasound room equipped with an online consultation system via a satellite image data transmission system with Military Hospital 175.

“With equipment equivalent to a district hospital, the 561 military hospital ship can perform emergency surgeries for serious accidents, appendicitis cases or other unexpected situations. The Navy's special feature is the decompression chamber to examine and recruit soldiers for submarines and to provide emergency care for fishermen in distress while diving deep. The operating room on the ship is connected online to the 175 Military Hospital for consultation and direct guidance on situations and surgeries,” said Major Phan Van Linh.

Launched on April 26, 2012 and put into operation in early 2013, after more than 10 years of officially carrying out its mission, the 561 military medical ship has provided medical examination and treatment throughout the entire Truong Sa archipelago, DK1 platform and for fishermen at sea, including many cases of fishermen falling, being injured, suffering from traumatic brain injury, coma, respiratory failure, etc.

“We successfully treated a Quang Ngai fisherman who was in a coma and had to be intubated. We then took him to Truong Sa Island so that doctors from Military Hospital 175 could continue to treat him and take him by helicopter to shore,” said medic Phan Van Linh.

For the officers and soldiers on the ship, seasickness and illness are inevitable. But they always joke with each other that “when on a medical ship, you don’t have to worry about getting sick.”

Soldier of Ship 561 Thai Quoc Hoa shared: “During the first trips to sea, many of my teammates and I also suffered from seasickness. At that time, we were all visited, examined and given medicine by doctors and nurses on board. When I and the soldiers were on the ship, we felt very secure to complete all assigned tasks well.”

According to Captain Pham Van An, Ship 561 can be said to be the first and most modern hospital ship not only for Vietnam but also for the whole Southeast Asia region: "That is why every officer and soldier on the ship is trained in basic skills to handle situations when rescuing victims. Each officer and soldier constantly improves their skills so that the ship is worthy of being a mobile hospital at sea."

One of the missions that ship 561 successfully completed was to represent the Vietnam People's Navy in participating in the ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercise (KOMODO) combined with humanitarian relief and disaster mitigation due to the tsunami from March 25 to April 16, 2014. This was a large-scale exercise with the participation of 18 countries, in addition to the ASEAN bloc, there were also the Navies of Russia, the United States, Japan, China, India, and Australia.

During the KOMODO participation, the medical team performed 3 minor surgeries on the ship and examined and distributed medicine to thousands of Indonesian people.