HA NOI — Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan yesterday urged the Ministry of Health in co-operation with the Ministry of Public Security to improve health treatment for national defence and police forces. New-born babies are nursed at Binh Dinh Province General Hospital. The health sector is looking to invest in research and the application of advanced technologies to boost standards. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc Nhan made the statement during his visit to the Ministry of Public Security's Traditional Medicine Hospital and the 19 August Hospital on the occasion of Vietnamese Physicians' Day which falls today. He expressed his appreciation for health experts' timely treatment of many patients. The Health Ministry needed to draft out a national plan to develop traditional medicine and to find ways of incorporating traditional medicine into cancer treatment, he said. Hospitals across the nation held meaningful events yesterday in honour of the holiday. Many … [Read more...] about Health sector must improve care
Health sector
PM tells health sector to aim for perfection
HA NOI — Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged the health sector to continuously perfect the country's healthcare system, particularly preventative medicine and all practices at the district and grassroots level. Medical workers give health checks to residents in Lai Chau northern mountainous province. The health sector is expected to perfect the country's healthcare system, especially at the grassroots level. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Cong Hai Dung's emphasis was made at a meeting held in Ha Noi yesterday in honour of the upcoming Vietnamese Physicians' Day (February 27). "Health examination and treatment systems should be continuously reformed to ensure equity and effectiveness for people," said Dung. Specifically, the sector should restructure the operational and financial mechanism at State-owned medical units while bringing health insurance to all people, he added. Dung also asked the sector to adopt "drastic and comprehensive" measures to abate the … [Read more...] about PM tells health sector to aim for perfection
Health sector completes universal insurance plan
HA NOI — The health sector has completed a plan to provide full health insurance coverage for the entire population by 2014, according to the Ministry of Health. Tong Thi Song Huong, head of the ministry's Department of Health Insurance, said the project would gradually eliminate voluntary health insurance by 2014. It would aim to increase the number of insured participants to more than 75 per cent of the population by 2015 and about 85 per cent by 2020. By 2015, the plan seeks to insure 50 per cent of those who live on the margins of poverty with a monthly income of between VND401,000-VND650,000 ($20-32), 40 per cent of households with an average income, 75 per cent of labourers in large enterprises and all students. The project planned to increase the number of participants by at least 25 per cent by 2020, Huong said. The Viet Nam Social Insurance presented figures showing that health insurance services failed to cover about 34 million people, amounting to 40 per cent … [Read more...] about Health sector completes universal insurance plan
Vietcombank provides loan worth $1.3b to health sector
The Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) on Wednesday committed to setting aside a preferential credit package worth VND30 trillion (US$1.3 billion) for the health sector. The loans will help the sector improve its facilities and service quality. The commitment was part of a comprehensive co-operation agreement inked between Vietcombank and the Ministry of Health to create favourable conditions for hospitals and health check-up establishments to use financial and banking services and contribute to the development of the health sector. Under the agreement, Vietcombank will provide medium and long-term loans with preferential interest rates to hospitals and health establishments to buy modern health equipment and upgrade medical facilities to better serve people’s demand for health check-ups and special disease treatment. The credit package, which will be disbursed until 2019, will also be offered for hospital expansion to help solve the patient overcrowding problem … [Read more...] about Vietcombank provides loan worth $1.3b to health sector
Health sector faces a workforce crisis
VietNamNet Bridge - The gap in the level of expertise among physicians is increasingly widening, breaking the structure of the current health care system in Vietnam, which is divided by levels. Human resources training for healthcare in trouble Workforce crisis is one of the biggest challenges that Vietnam's health system faces. Doctor shortage occurs at all levels (especially at district and provincial level.) The imbalance in the qualification of doctors, equipment and facilities has encouraged patients to flock to big hospitals in cities. Serious "thirst" for human resources This crisis is evident when the health sector is in shortage, serious imbalances in the human resources in the whole system, which makes the system work ineffectively. Let's take medical workforce for preventive health as a specific example. The Ministry of Health (MOH) targeted that "preventive health must go ahead, before treatment," but in fact the work of human resources for preventive medicine is … [Read more...] about Health sector faces a workforce crisis