After facing pressure from the handling of the measles outbreak, Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, the Minister of Health, said she is now not thinking of resigning, but will focus on getting the disease under control.

Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien.

The minister made her intentions while answering questions at a regular government meeting in Hanoi on April 29. The measles outbreak affected more than 9,000 people and caused 120 deaths.

Tien, a mother herself, also sent her sympathy to parents whose children died of the disease and admitted partial responsibility for the large impact of this outbreak.

“At this time I am not thinking of the resigning. The most important thing now is controlling the disease and saving children,” she said.

Tien emphasised that when she was selected to be the health minister, she wanted to put the public interest first and that if she failed she would be willing to return to work that is more useful to people.

She made a point of thanking to the media for disseminating information about measles so parents knew the importance of vaccination, which symptoms to look out for and the best ways to prevent the disease.

While Vietnam still struggles with measles, hand, foot and mouth disease has affected more than 17,400 people in 62 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide this year, according to the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health.