Nguyen Quyen
Pham Thanh Van, chairman of the Vietnam Private Medical Association, speaks at a seminar in HCMC on April 13 - PHOTO: NGUYEN QUYEN
Private hospitals will help not only ease overloads at public hospitals but also provide good healthcare services for patients, heard the seminar organized by the Vietnam Private Medical Association at ITO Saigon Phu Nhuan Hospital.
A report of the Ministry of Health showed there are 171 private hospitals and 30,000 private clinics in Vietnam, while the number of public hospitals is 1,200. More than 249,830 people have been licensed to work in the sector, including 64,422 doctors.
Pham Thanh Van, chairman of the association, said only a small number of the 171 private hospitals have been performing well after being licensed and the remainder have been stuck in a perfunctory situation as they have had to cope with so many regulatory hurdles and inspections, and found it hard to get practicing certificates for their employees.
Van gave an example that up to seven inspection teams visit his small hospital a week. “I feel tired. I am general director but have a lot of patients to examine at the hospital. Some inspectors come but they are not sure of what to inspect,” he said.
Van pointed out a reality that incidents at hospitals are unavoidable but they turn out to be big problems at private hospitals as they must undergone many inspections and even investigations. However, public hospitals do not have to encounter many inspections for similar incidents.
Van also complained about time-consuming procedures for employees at private hospitals to get all required practicing certificates.
A doctor at Trang An Hospital shared Van’s views that private hospitals are still grappling with scores of obstacles in raising funds and seeking land allocations in spite of the Government’s policy to open the healthcare sector to private investors.
Land lots at good locations are usually allocated to public hospitals while investors of private hospitals face a host of barriers when it comes to leasing land for their projects. Individuals have invested heavily in private hospitals and clinics but have yet to get equal support, Vu The Hung, vice chairman of the association, said at the seminar.
At the seminar, Shinhan Vietnam Bank and the Supporting Center for Korea Medical Devices clinched a memorandum of understanding with the Association of Vietnamese Private Hospitals and the Vietnam Private Medical Association to assist in market information and medical equipment supply.
The bank will offer financial packages for customers of the center and the associations as part of the cooperation agreement.
Đăng ký: VietNam News