Deputy PM addresses health sector

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam yesterday praised the health sector's efforts for overcoming many difficulties to look after people.

At an online conference to review the health sector's performance during the first half of the year, Dam asked the sector to re-assess health-related legal documents and deal with their limitations.

Dam asked localities to keep themselves informed of public frustrations about health issues through the media and urgently deal with any violations.


Citing revelations about poor quality biochemical testing machines in Ha Noi's Thuong Tin District as an example, Dam asked localities to conduct inspections on the use of medical equipment in a serious and transparent manner.

Dam said the Government would soon issue a decree about giving autonomy to public health organisations so that they can organise market-driven operations.

He said that for the rest of the year, localities should review health performances in different areas, from preventive medicine, treatment quality to the development of facilities and equipment.

The Minister of Health, Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, said the sector had made achievements in institutional reforms, investment in infrastructure and reforms in the financial and operational mechanisms of public health organisations.

In response to the spread of the Ebola virus and H7N9 in the world and the domestic outbreak of diarrhoea and malaria, Tien said the health sector would continue to be active in its prevention work and step up supervision at airports and borders to minimise the spread of disease.

She added that the ministries of health, agriculture and trade have managed to clarify their responsibilities and deal with overlapping in inspection and supervision activities from central to local levels.

Tien said the quality of medical examination and treatment had been improved in the first six months and that there were more beds at hospitals and more medical interventions and operations.

She also said the health sector had gradually dealt with overloading at hospitals, citing the reduced overloading at the National Cancer Hospital (K hospital) and the National Endocrinology Hospital as examples.

Tien said the set up of a hotline for public feedback on problems and corruption, the sector had taken action against violations and worked to improve fee collection and simplifying medical insurance payments.

Towards the end of the year, she said the health sector would focus on inspecting food safety, maintaining the vaccination rate, working against the spread of rabies - and preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases.