Prime Minister: Do not let students lack schools or people lack medical treatment due to natural disasters

On August 29, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed and issued Official Dispatch No. 151/CD-TTg on urgently repairing educational and medical facilities damaged by natural disasters, ensuring learning conditions for students and medical examination and treatment for people.

Thiet Ong Kindergarten in Thanh Hoa at the time of flooding. (Photo: Nguyen Nam/VNA)

The dispatch stated that since the beginning of 2025, in many localities across the country, there have been consecutive natural disasters such as thunderstorms, tropical depressions, storms, floods, inundations, flash floods, landslides, earthquakes, causing serious damage to people, property of the people and infrastructure works, in which many educational and medical facilities were damaged (according to the synthesis of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment from localities, in the recent storm No. 5 alone, 411 schools had their roofs blown off or damaged).

Speed ​​up the repair and restoration of schools and medical facilities damaged by natural disasters.

To ensure the opening and learning of students in the new school year 2025-2026 and to serve medical examination and treatment for people, the Prime Minister requested the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities, especially Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Son La, Dien Bien, Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen (affected by storm No. 5 and heavy rains, flash floods, landslides, and inundation in July and August) to directly direct and organize a thorough review, statistics, and full assessment of the extent of damage to educational and medical facilities in the area and the remedial work to date.

Teachers at Phi Nhu A Kindergarten, Xa Dung Commune (Dien Bien Province) overcome the consequences of floods in early August. (Photo: Phan Quan/VNA)

At the same time, provinces and cities mobilized military, police, youth union forces and people to focus on cleaning schools and classrooms, speeding up the repair and restoration of schools and medical facilities damaged by natural disasters, completing before September 1, 2025, ensuring conditions for organizing the opening ceremony of the new school year on time, ensuring medical examination and treatment for people.

The Prime Minister requested that students absolutely must not lack schools, classes, teachers, clothes, books, teaching equipment and school supplies, and that people must not lack places to see a doctor or get medical treatment.

The Prime Minister requested to report the implementation results to the Prime Minister no later than September 1, 2025 (and at the same time send them to the Ministries of Education and Training and Health for general synthesis and report to the Prime Minister no later than September 2, 2025).

Ensure conditions for organizing the opening ceremony of the new school year on time as prescribed.

Along with that, proactively use budget reserves at all levels in localities, mobilize all other legal resources to implement and ensure progress.

In case it exceeds the local guarantee capacity, the Provincial People's Committee shall propose the need for support from the central government to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Finance for handling according to regulations.

The Minister of Education and Training organized inspection teams to urge localities to carry out school and classroom cleaning work, overcome the consequences of educational establishments affected by natural disasters, and promptly support localities and educational establishments to ensure conditions for organizing the opening ceremony of the new school year on time as prescribed.

A teacher at Pa Vat 1 Kindergarten, Muong Luan Commune (Dien Bien Province) cleans the environment and tables and chairs after the flood. (Photo: Phan Quan/VNA)

The Minister of Education and Training directed the Directors of the Departments of Education and Training of localities and functional units to grasp the situation of facilities, teaching equipment, textbooks and learning materials, especially for educational institutions in localities affected by storm No. 5 and floods in July and August; proactively handle proposals and support requests from localities according to their authority, synthesize and report to the Prime Minister for direction on handling issues beyond their authority.

The Minister of Education and Training proactively mobilized and called on relevant agencies and units to support educational institutions that suffered damage to teaching equipment, textbooks and learning materials, ensuring learning conditions for students right from the beginning of the new school year, so that students do not lack books and learning materials.

The Minister of Health directed functional units and medical forces at the grassroots level to review and promptly supplement reserve medicines, chemicals, and supplies, ensuring adequate supply of essential medicines for the people; organize environmental sanitation, disease prevention, and food safety after floods; and not allow interruptions in emergency care and treatment of patients.

The Ministry of Health directs local health sectors and functional units to grasp the situation of facilities, equipment, and reserve medicines for medical examination and treatment, especially in localities heavily affected by recent natural disasters and storms and floods; proactively handle proposals and support requests from localities within their authority, synthesize, and report to the Prime Minister for direction on handling issues beyond their authority.

The Prime Minister requested the Ministers of the Ministries of National Defense and Public Security to direct military and police units stationed in the area to mobilize maximum forces, means, and materials to support localities affected by recent natural disasters in cleaning schools, repairing damaged educational and medical facilities, and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters in general according to local requests.

The Prime Minister assigned Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long to directly monitor and direct ministries, branches and localities to implement this Official Dispatch; Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha continued to direct the implementation of Official Dispatch No. 148/CD-TTg dated August 26, 2025.

The Government Office monitors and urges ministries, branches and localities to seriously implement this Official Dispatch; promptly reports to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in charge on urgent and arising issues./.

According to VNA

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/thu-tuong-khong-de-hoc-sinh-thieu-truong-nguoi-dan-thieu-noi-chua-benh-do-thien-tai-260003.htm