Many medical stations in a state of disrepair are able to provide initial medical examination and treatment for people in the area.
Medical staff of the healthcare station in An Lac Ward in Binh Tan District were rushing to collect medical supplies, and medicine and move them to a dry place when it rained.
Doctor Nguyen Van Duong, Head of An Lac Ward Medical Center, said that the station was newly built and put into use in 2004. However, it was built a long time ago, the outside yard has subsided, leading to cracks in the foundation of the building in many places. Almost the entire ceiling on the first floor has peeling plaster, the corrugated iron roof is damaged, and even a little rain also causes leaks. Many people slip and fall, especially elderly patients and patients with disabilities.
Faced with that situation, the health sector has advised the city on many solutions to invest in new construction, upgrading and repairing degraded grassroots healthcare stations. The People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City last year issued Resolution No. 05/NQ-HDND on approving the investment policy of the investment project in new construction, upgrading, renovation and equipment procurement for 146 commune health stations, wards in the city assigned the Project Management Board for Construction Investment of Civil and Industrial Works in Ho Chi Minh City.
The project invests in 146 grassroots healthcare facilities including 140 repaired stations and 6 newly built stations with a total capital of up to VND296 billion.
Dr. Nguyen Trung Hoa, Director of Go Vap Medical Center, said that the district has 9/16 centers for healthcare services (CHCs) in poor repair; therefore, it needs a total cost of about VND11 billion to renovate them, but no renovation project has been carried out for one year.
Elsewhere in Hoc Mon District, Doctor Nguyen Van Truong, Director of the local medical center, Hoc Mon has four centers for healthcare services in the list of renovation and construction. One of which is the center in Tan Thoi Nhi Commune which is in poor condition. However, it has not yet been repaired. Now the second quarter of 2024 is about to end and there is still no movement.
Investment policies for construction projects of these CHCs were approved in 2022; yet, up to now, all four of these projects have not yet had a decision to allocate capital for implementation. Moreover, the city health sector sets a target that by 2025, half of CHCs citywide will be built based on family medicine principles to provide better services to patients and help to reduce overload at large hospitals. Nevertheless, with this slowdown, the targets are very difficult to achieve.
Director Nguyen Van Truong of the Management Board of Industrial and Civil Engineering Construction and Investment Projects of HCMC said that after being assigned by the city to be the investor of 146 CHCs, the board has closely coordinated with the locality to complete the implementation of bidding packages in the preparation stage and prepare a feasibility study reports. However, during the implementation process, there were a number of difficulties and obstacles leading to not having enough basis to submit the investment project for appraisal and approval.
In addition, environmental planning and licensing issues of relevant units are also delayed, so current progress is slow compared to the original plan. Currently, the board is making efforts to coordinate with relevant units to complete documents to submit to the competent authority to issue a decision to approve investment projects. It is expected to submit the appraisal and approval of the feasibility study report to specialized departments in June 2024 while organizing of bidding, selection of contractors, and construction are scheduled to be conducted in the first quarter of 2025. CHCs will be put into use in the fourth quarter of 2025.
