HANOI - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday it had lent Vietnam US$72 million (S$108 million) to upgrade health services in parts of the country, including several poverty-stricken provinces.

The project will help build or upgrade 20 hospitals and five district preventive medicine centres in provinces stretching from central Danang city to Binh Thuan province near southern Ho Chi Minh City, said the ADB.

The 32-year project, which will also receive eight million US dollars from the Vietnam government, will include a training school for nurses and paramedics and also fund new water, sanitation and medical waste management systems.

The south-central coastal region is home to nine million people, including about 500,000 from ethnic minorities. Four of the provinces have poverty levels above the national average of 19.5 per cent, said the ADB. -- AFP