At the National Assembly Standing Committee Session on March 26, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien stressed the importance of trained personnel in preventive medicine, while answering questions on medical treatment and development of human resources for the health sector.
With infectious diseases becoming more rampant, preventive medicine is important to mitigate and alleviate suffering of individuals.
The health minister presented some measures to attract more students into the faculty of preventive medicine, such as those with lower scores. She also said that the ministry will allocate more funds to build preventive medicine centres in remote and disadvantaged districts.
Minister Tien pointed out the shortcomings in preventive medicine in the country, saying that some districts had too many centres but a shortage of trained personnel.
She also said the ministry has submitted a plan for developing and training more human resources for preventive medicine. In addition, to attracting students to study preventive medicine, the ministry will give preference to preventive medical workers for study programmes abroad or in international cooperation projects.
The Minister revealed that this year the Ministry will submit a request to the Government for the issuance of a Decree to renew the financial mechanism for its non-business affiliates to get additional investment for medical examination and treatment. Besides, medical service charges will also be adjusted to improve the quality of medical examination.
The minister also complained that while demand for examination and treatment is increasing, state budget has just satisfied a small portion, especially for central hospitals or hospitals in big cities.
For instance, central hospitals need over VND2 trillion a year for improving, upgrading and purchasing medical equipment. However, so far they have received around VND1 trillion, which has put a spoke in the implementation of many projects.
By April this year, the Ministry will submit to the Government a plan to address the overloading in major hospitals, which will include solutions for improving infrastructure, administration, financial and human resources. The Ministry will also build satellite hospitals to lessen pressure on big hospitals.
As a final measure Minister Tien suggested that patients who are compelled to share a bed will be charged only 50 per cent of hospital expense. This measure will clearly restrict some hospitals from intentionally benefiting from an overcrowding situation and exploiting patients.
