4 Mar 2013

Vietnamese surgeon visit continues longstanding ties

10:22 am on 4 March 2013

Four Vietnamese surgeons are on a three-week visit to New Zealand to learn new techniques that are urgently needed back home.

New Zealand doctors were invited to go to the city of Quy Nhon in 1963 to give medical assistance during the Vietnam War.

After the war intensified and involved New Zealand troops the doctors were joined in Binh Dinh province by Army medics.

Doctors say the relationship has continued and over the years 14 Vietnamese doctors have come to New Zealand and hundreds from this country have visited Vietnam.

They say orthopaedic, rehabilitation and other skills are vitally needed in the central Vietnamese city and they are committed to maintaining the work despite funding constraints.