The statement was made by Vice Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc at a conference to review medical activities in 2023 and set out tasks and missions in 2024 which was held by the Ministry of Health on January 9 with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai.
HCMC’s medical sector did not collapse during the Covid-19 pandemic and has mostly recovered all healthcare activities, he added.
In 2023, the city has continuously controlled well the Covid-19 pandemic and other dangerous endemic diseases such as dengue fever, (HFMD) (hand, foot, and mouth disease), pink eye, and monkeypox (Mpox).
The city’s healthcare sector has proactively implemented measures to control the epidemic situation effectively, strengthened epidemic on epidemic prevention and control, coordinated with the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in HCMC to identify causative agents of infectious diseases, enhanced proactive disease management and effective patient treatment, focused on initial healthcare and developed grassroots medical network.
In addition, in 2023, many construction, renovation, and upgrading projects of the city's hospitals were completed and put into operation to reduce overload at medical facilities and create a premise for the specialized medical development of the new units of hospitals, such as HCMC Oncology Hospital, Children's Hospital 1, Hospital for Rehabilitation - Treatment of Occupational Diseases, the People's Hospital 115, Nguyen Trai Hospital and more.
Additionally, hospitals in the city have invested in resources, and constantly developed specialized technologies on par with countries in the region, including robotic surgery training meeting international standards at Binh Dan Hospital, performing a successful fetal cardiac surgery.
The health sector is proactively building and advising a project on developing specialized healthcare from now until 20230 and in the next years to develop HCMC into a medical center of the ASEAN region in accordance with Politburo’s Resolution 31-NQ/TW on orientations and tasks for the development of HCMC by 2030, with a vision to 2045.
However, HCMC and its medical sector are facing difficulties and challenges in training and attracting human resources for grassroots healthcare facilities, carrying out health management among people of high-risk groups, and improving the information technology infrastructure of healthcare units towards the goal of digital transformation in the health sector, having practical solutions to help public hospitals autonomize sustainably, discovering and preventing unauthorized medical examination and treatment activities, false advertising in the healthcare field.
10 key activity groups of the HCMC’s health sector in 2024
- Starting the program on developing high-quality medical human resources from grassroots healthcare facilities to specialized medical units
- Carrying out health management among people of high-risk groups
- Consolidating the necessary conditions for the effective implementation of the digital transformation in the healthcare sector
- Applying Resolution 98 to build an innovation ecosystem in the health sector
- Effectively implementing bidding activities for drugs, supplies, and medical equipment according to the Law on Bidding No. 22/2023/QH15
- Advising mechanisms and policies to help public hospitals autonomize sustainably
- Putting three hospitals at the gateway to HCMC into operation in 2024
- Specifying priority activities for the development of healthcare in the region
- Supplementing criteria for evaluating the quality of healthcare in the city
- Strengthening solutions to prevent, detect, and handle violations in the health sector
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan previously said that in 2023, the healthcare sector exceeded 3/3 socio-economic targets assigned by the National Assembly, achieving 12.5 doctors per 10,000 people, 32 hospital beds per 10,000 people, 93.2 percent of the population participated in health insurance, and reached 7/9 specific industries and fields delegated by the Government.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been controlled. The coronavirus disease 2019 is no longer an infectious disease in Group A but was downgraded to Group B on October 20. The entire industry continues to maintain and develop bilateral cooperation, focus on building multilateral foreign relations, and actively participate in international and regional forums, such as the United Nations, ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), WHO (World Health Organization) to enhance the role and position of Vietnamese healthcare.
