Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on July 7 appointed Nguyen Thanh Long as acting health minister, local media reported, filling the post left vacant in more than eight months.

Long, born in 1966 in Nam Dinh province, graduated from Hanoi Medical University in 1995. He holds a master degree and a PhD in infectious disease medicine.

Acting health minister Nguyen Thanh Long

He served seven years as deputy health minister before being appointed a deputy head of the Central Education and Communication Commission of the Communist Party.

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in Vietnam, Long was re-appointed deputy health minister on January 31. He then played an important role in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic. Vietnam has gone nearly three months without local transmission and has reported no deaths of coronavirus.

Vietnam health minister’s position had been left vacant since November 22, 2019 when the then minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien was released from the post as she reached the retirement age. Tien then assumed the duty as head of a committee in charge of health care for senior Party and State officials under the Party Central Committee.

As the National Assembly has not approved anyone to replace Tien, the prime minister is authorized to assign an acting health minister in accordance with the law.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam was made secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Health and was in charge of the ministry.