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A visit to Binh Thanh District Hospital at the beginning of the year revealed hundreds of patients waiting for treatment or medicine. 67-year-old Ly Hoang H. from Ward 21 commented that the hospital was clean and comfortable, while officers and the medica staff here were helpful and devoted. The only wish he had at that moment is for a larger medicine stock to serve the high demands of patients.
HCMC Oncological Hospital is facing the same medicine shortage situation. Deputy Director of the hospital Diep Bao Tuan reported that at the end of January 2023, more than 470 inpatients here still waited for surgery or radiation therapy due to disruption in the drug supply chain. Adding to that was the introduction of Circular No.68 by the Finance Ministry on November 11, 2022 requesting a reference of at least three invoices from three different medicine suppliers before deciding the final market price for any drug.
The problem in this regulation is that besides the manufacturer, no other organizations can supply specialized medical devices, making it impossible to ask for reference from three different sources. Therefore, broken machine parts cannot be bought for repair purposes, leading to longer waiting time of patients in need.
Trung Vuong Hospital is encountering another difficulty coming from human resources shortage alongside with the infamous lack of medical equipment. Just in October 2022, 138 employees applied for permanent leave, saying that their salary was too low to afford their living.
Highly aware of various issues that the healthcare sector in HCMC is confronting, hospital leaders and the municipal authorities are applying practical solutions while calling for the efforts and determination of the medical staff to join hand to tackle those problems.
In Cho Ray Hospital, seeing the state of drug and medical equipment shortage, the hospital management is directing its relevant units to pinpoint both objective and subjective reasons as well as the bidding task to timely address arisen issues. The former (like impractical legal regulations) should be reported to higher-leveled management while the latter should be internally solved after collecting proposals from both the staff and the public.
Meanwhile, the hospital’s employees are encouraging and helping one another to fulfill their duty, to work in shifts for the sake of saving the life of their patients. Increasing trouble can still be overcome with the unite minds of all staff members.
Facing a lot of problems like healthcare institutes in HCMC is Vietnam National Cancer Hospital in Hanoi. Director Le Van Quang of this hospital stated that his organization has encountered shortages of medicine, medical equipment, and re-investment resources to buy new medical devices.
However, to provide the most possible care to its patients, the hospital has adopted various measures like working in shifts, encouraging voluntary overtime working, routing inpatients and outpatients for medical tests in schedule. The hospital leaders continuously boosting the spirit of the human resources to overcome this short-term difficulty, which is happening nationally and internationally. More importantly, the hospital has always tried to ensure reasonable salaries for its employees to maintain the stability of the staff.
