In any conflict it is imperative to build a
repoire with the civilian population. The military has always tried to
do this as away to help insure the safety of friendly forces, build up
intelligence sources,and pacify resistance and of course to genuinely
help the civilian populace. The category used for these programs is Civil
Action Programs, and they have worked to some point in every conflict.
The Vietnam was no exception, althoughmany sources are in conflict about
the effectiveness of these programs during that time.
Many of these programs were designed to be joint civilian and military
programs. The two groups that headed up these programs were A.I.D
(Agency for International Development) and MACV (Military
Assistance Command Vietnam). The major focus of these programs was to
better the health of the Vietnamese civilian population. With the added
hope that these interactions would also serve to make the population more
accepting of the American presence and aid.
Some
of these programs grew out of other programs being carried out by
Special Forces. These programs will be looked at more closely in other
studies. The programs of focus in this study are the programs of a
medical nature.
The first of these programs is the
Provincial Health Assistance Program or P.H.A.P. This was an effort by
the Agency for International Development to provide training to
Vietnamese medical personnel;like Doctors, nurses and technicians; to be
trained by civilian volunteers andsurgical teams. The hope was to
improve the abilities of the Vietnamese and in turn improve the health
environment within the provinces where these teams would work. But, with
the civic programs and the growing Guerrilla actions this program was not
able to be completely put into action andbasically failed.
The next program was the Military Provincial Health Assistance Program
or Mil.P.H.A.P. This program was developed by a joint effort of A.I.D.
and M.AC.V. The idea was still the same and the goal was still to aid
the Vietnamese civilian health programs. The difference with this program
was the military was now involved with greater resources to help
carryout the program.
As this was put to work military
surgical teams augmented civilian teams that headed to the provinces.
Each team was assigned to a provincial hospital and was under the
supervision of a Provincial Chief of Medicine. The teams were so
successful that by the end of the war teams were assigned to 25 of the 44
provinces.
With the teams in the field a continuity of
medical care helped to raise the health conditions of those living in
the provinces. The teams continued to train Vietnamese medical personnel
as well as build more and better health facilities, all with the
approval of the Provincial chiefs of medicine. Along with this an
evacuation program was established that made it possible for patients to
get to medical facilities that would better suited to give treatments
that may be needed.
Towards the end of the war joint
committees of A.I.D. and M.A.C.V. made and executed plans to build,
maintain, supply and provide training for the Vietnamese. The goal was
to have trained personnel to eventually assume control of the
preventative medicine and public health programs thus lessening their
dependence on the American forces.
Probably the best
known program carried out was the Medical Civic Action Program
or MEDCAP. These were smaller teams that would go out to the remote
villages to provide medical aid to the civilian population. This was
based on the idea that if the people can’t come to the hospital, then the
hospital would come to the people. This is what most people can recall.
The idea was to treat the people as out-patient care. Do what can be
done at their level and transport those that needed more urgent care.
The Special Forces and M.A.C.V advisors were the first to carry out
these types of clinics as a way to develop trust and kindle a
relationship with the people. As the war progressed more units were
took part in these actions. These programs would improve the relations
between the civilian population and the military and foster respect and
co-operation between the two. As the war progresses all
branches participated in the MEDCAP programs, although most personnel
were provided by the Army. Administration, supplies and logistical
support for these programs came from the Army because M.A.C.V.
was responsible for the development of the program and had larger
accessibility to supplies.
The teams that participated
in this program were small mobile teams that worked side by side with
their counterparts in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam or ARVN.
Because of there size and mobility they set up clinics and dispensaries
that helped to make health care more accessible to the rural population.
The small teams carried out these clinics as outpatient care and
recommended transport for cases that needed to be seen and treated at the
hospitals; which generally meant transporting entire families.
As a result of the troop buildup in Vietnam more and more personnel were
now being put to work with the medical programs. With the success of
MEDCAP another program was started and called MEDCAP II. The purpose of
this program was to streamline the medical process and get more of the
Vietnamese trained to be capable of assuming responsibility of all the
medical programs that the military was providing.
Because of the success of the MEDCAP programs there were a number of
positive changes to the hospitals in the provinces. Hospitals were merged
with the military hospitals and made it much easier for medical
personnel to give aid to the civilian population. This also meant that
those Vietnamese personnel that were being trained had better access to
and supervision by their trainers. By the end of the war there were a
sufficient number of trained personnel to continue the health
care started by the American MEDCAP programs. At the time of this writing
there are no statistics or reports to say that any of the programs that
medical personnel were involved were terminated or changed in any
significant ways when the North Vietnamese take over the South.
Written By
Jon J Baker
Bibliography to follow
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