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A doctor at Ha Noi-based Central Children Hospital examines a patient. — VNS Photo Viet Thanh |
HA NOI — A brain-drain of health workers from public to private hospitals and from rural mountain provinces to urban areas is creating a headache for Viet Nam's health system.
The Ministry of Health has released a report saying that although the number of health workers increased throughout Viet Nam year -on-year, it did not keep pace with population increases.
In 2008, Viet Nam had 40.5 health workers per 10,000 people. This was lower than that in 1986 when there were 43.1 health workers per 10,000 people.
The report said 50 per cent of health workers were working in urban areas, but only 27.7 per cent of the nation's population resided there.
Head of Ha Tinh Province's Health Department's Medical Profession office Vo Viet Quang said three doctors with masters degrees in surgery, oriental medicine and dental science left provincial hospitals last year.
Several other provincial doctors also moved to private hospitals in Ha Noi, Vung Tau and HCM City this year.
"They quit State-owned hospitals even though the provincial health department did not agree with their proposals," said Quang.
There are about 640 doctors in Ha Tinh province, about 200 fewer than stipulated by Ministry of Health regulations that each province muat have a ratio of seven doctors to 10,000 people.
Accordingly to this, each district should have at least 30 doctors, but Can Loc District Hospital, for example, has only one doctor who also performs surgery.
The shortage of surgeons led to "some unfortunate mistakes" at the hospital's obstetrics ward. This recently forced the Health Department to bring in obstetricians from a neighbouring hospital in Huong Khe District.
The Health Examination and Treatment Department said at present there were 141,148 health workers throughout Viet Nam specialising in examinations and treatment. However, the actual demand was for 188,182.
Recent surveys have also found that many medical techniques applied in countries around the world for many years were slow to be adopted in Viet Nam.
This was attributed to the shortage of specialists to run modern equipment.
Director of Binh Duong General Hospital Ngo Dung Nghia said there was rising demand for cardio-vascular treatment and advanced endoscopy on the large intestines and stomach, but the hospital did not have enough medical staff to provide these services.
About 50km away from HCM City, the hospital lacks about 80 doctors. Low pay is blamed for the shortage of young doctors.
To solve the shortages, the Ministry of Health has developed an ambitious plan to have 41 health workers, including eight doctors and two pharmacists, per 10,000 people by 2015.
This means more than 282,000 health workers will be needed by then, and Vietnamese universities will have to provide 5,800 doctors and 1,572 pharmacists more annually.
Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said other measures were needed to overcome the shortage.
This included increasing the quota of medical and pharmaceutical students at universities and creating special payment and treatment policies for health workers, especially those working in rural and mountain areas.
Vu Ba Toan, head of the Organisation and Administrative Work Bureau at the Quy Hoa Leprosy and Dermatology Hospital, has suggested raising occupational allowances to health workers - and making it legally binding for staff sent to receive continuing education to return.
He compared the sending of health workers to receive such training as a two-edged knife is most trained staff were willing to compensate training costs to their hospitals and look for higher paid jobs elsewhere. — VNS
