CHAPTER XIII
Medical Assistance to Vietnamese Civilians
U.S. civilian medical aid programs
began in the early years of support in Vietnam. As the U.S. military commitment
grew throughout the 1960's, new and expanded programs were developed. Through
such efforts as PHAP (Provincial Health Assistance Program), MILPHAP (Military
Provincial Health Assistance Program), MEDCAP (Medical Civic Action Program),
and CWCP (Civilian War Casualty Program), medical aid in increasing amounts and
effectiveness was given to the people of Vietnam.
Provincial Health Assistance Program
The Agency for International
Development initiated a program in the early 1960's to supplement the health
services of the Vietnamese. A major objective of PHAP was to improve the
training of' Vietnamese physicians, nurses, and medical technicians. Others were
to expand and improve Vietnamese hospitals and dispensaries and to eradicate
malaria.
Under the auspices of AID, surgical
teams of U.S. civilian physicians, nurses, and technicians were, sent to
Vietnamese provincial hospitals. The first of these teams arrived at the
provincial hospital in Can Tho in the summer of 1962; shortly thereafter, teams
were assigned to the hospitals at Nha Trang and Da Nang. Surgical units,
consisting of two operating rooms, a central supply area, and a four-bed
recovery ward, were constructed adjacent to the provincial hospital where the
team was assigned.
Despite the valiant efforts of the U.S.
teams, augmented by those, from New Zealand, South Korea, the Philippines, and
other nations of the Free World, the broad and ambitious aims of PHAP could not
be realized. The task of substantially improving health care in an,
underdeveloped nation was difficult enough. Compounded by civil strife and
guerrilla warfare, it became impossible.
Military Provincial Health Assistance
Program
The increase in military medical
resources which accompanied the buildup of U.S. combat troops in 1965 permitted
an expansion of the effort to improve the health of Vietnamese civilians. In
conjunction
