Doctors at the Hue central hospital and Kon Tum hospital exchange experience after a successful heart surgery

Nhan Dan – The health sector has in recent past received great care from the Party, National Assembly and the Government. Accordingly, the Government has issued important Resolutions and Decisions, emphasising on providing medical examination and treatments to people in difficult areas to ensure social equality.

According to Conclusions No.42 and 43, by the Politburo on April 1, 2009 defined the necessity of improving the responsibility and medical ethics of people working in the health sector. At the same time, implementing the policy on rotating staff to mountainous, remote and rural areas of the country is necessary, making a contribution to guaranteeing social equality.

To institutionalise tasks assigned by the Party and Government, in 2008 the Ministry of Health issued Decision No. 1816/QĐ-BYT accompanied by the Project on rotating medical officials from the central hospitals to local hospitals (Project 1816 for short). The Ministry of Health decided to establish the Project 1816 steering board and appointed the Ministry of Health as the head of the board. Each province and city directly under the central government has their own steering board to implement and supervise the Project. The first phase of the Project focuses on sending medical officials from the central hospitals to provincial hospitals. In the next phase, doctors will be sent from the central and provincial level to the grassroots level to assist doctors in difficult areas, reduce overload in central level and provide better medical services for people in all regions of the country.

After one-year, the Project has brought about practical results on health care, especially in mountainous, remote and difficult areas. According to preliminary statistics, there have had 59 hospitals nationwide sending 1,846 turns of officials to 57 provinces and cities throughout the country. Around 70,434 patients were treated and 1,882 of them experienced surgeries. Local patients did not have to move to higher level and the overload was reduced. Additionally, hundreds of training classes were provided to thousands of medical officials in local hospitals in the nation. Since the implementation of the Project 1816, the general hospital of Lai Chau province has improved its health care services in both quality and quantity. The number of patients moving to central hospitals is reduced and the number of surgeries increases twice against the same period last year. Thanks to the Project 1816, the overload in provincial hospitals of Quang Nam province has been reduced by 25%.

So far, 30 provinces and cities directly under the Central Government have deployed the Project 1816, sending 635 turns of doctors from provincial level to 184 hospitals and 294 health stations in districts and communes.

Thua Thien – Hue province is a good example for other provinces to follow as they have achieved good results in the implementation of the Project 1816. The health care network in communes could provide medical examination and treatment to 64% of patients of the whole province. The social-economic effect can be obviously seen as patients are provided health care services right in their localities without moving to provincial level and overload in higher level is reduced. This helps to boost health care efficiency and development and demonstrate the responsibility and social duty of each medical official.

In the coming time the health sector hopes to continue to achieving results and focus on enhancing health care quality. Especially, great attention will be paid to mountainous, remote and difficult areas. There would be specifics measures on the rotation of medical officials to grassroots level. Accordingly, it is needed to boost educating and informing medical officials about the importance of the rotation of officials. Also, it should be carried out in combination with the implementation of the campaign ‘Learn and Follow President Ho Chi Minh’s exemplary morals’.

To implement the Government’s Resolution No. 30a/2008/NQ-CP in 62 poor districts, the Ministry of Health asks central and provincial hospitals to support these poor districts by sending their medical staff to work there. Favourable conditions must be created to improve the capacity of local doctors for medical examination and treatment. Health care always prioritises mountainous and difficult areas so that all people could get access to health care services.

Nguyen Quoc Trieu
Minister of Heath