10 impressive speeches by National Assembly deputies at the session on COVID-19 and grassroots healthcare

Minister Ho Duc Phoc tells the story of 4 Ministers eating instant noodles at the airport during the fight against COVID-19

Recalling the time when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out strongly in Vietnam, Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc shared that during the complicated pandemic, the Government worked around the clock to quickly establish a COVID-19 vaccine fund. "At 9:00 p.m., the Prime Minister called me to ask if a vaccine fund could be established. I replied that it could be established. That same night, we convened a meeting, assigned tasks to the Departments and Bureaus to implement the regulations and establish the fund. We assigned the Department of Public Administration to develop Circular 41 that same night. And at 8:00 a.m. the next day, both the Circular and the Decision to establish a COVID-19 vaccine fund were placed on the Prime Minister's desk," the Finance Minister shared.

Delegate Nguyen Lan Hieu (Binh Dinh delegation) frankly stated that the unreasonable policies are stifling the development of commune and ward health stations. There are cases where, for the same underlying disease, if treated at a commune health station, only 100,000 VND worth of blood pressure lowering medication is used, while in the province or district, more expensive medication is used. Or the patient examination regime of doctors and nurses at commune health stations is only 27,000 VND/patient and is deducted back and forth...

Delegate Nguyen Thi Yen Nhi (Ben Tre delegation) stated that the situation of the commune health station having only one person on duty each night, while this is the front line for nighttime emergency care for patients in fights, traffic accidents... is very complicated, so medical staff, especially female doctors, cannot be on duty alone. Many female doctors have to ask their mothers, sisters, husbands, and children to go with them because they are afraid that patients will cause difficulties. Meanwhile, the salary for each night's duty is only 25,000 VND, the food allowance is 15,000 VND, the regime is very modest compared to the effort this team puts in. Low policies make it difficult to attract and retain people to work in grassroots health care.

Delegate Trinh Tu Anh (Lam Dong delegation) shared that many communes and wards of cities, especially urban areas with high population density, have a ratio of 10 doctors/30,000-50,000 people (the standard according to regulations is 10 doctors/15,000 people). Although they undertake a lot of work, the team of doctors and nurses at the grassroots level have not received adequate attention and treatment, with the income of medical staff being only 5-7 million VND per month.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi delegation) recalled the scars and painful lessons in the fight against COVID-19, in which "the spectacular, sharp-as-a-knife scam of Viet A Company in organizing the production of test kits was painful and condemnable. The counterfeiting was too expensive and too big". Or there were cases of violations not due to greed or profiteering but simply wrong procedures to meet urgent requirements in epidemic prevention.

Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong (Binh Thuan delegation) worried that when the COVID-19 pandemic ends, doctors and nurses at hospitals will face the worry of returning medical equipment, oxygen, and medicine to businesses that borrowed them during the emergency pandemic. Currently, businesses are constantly demanding debt, but medical facilities do not have enough legal basis to repay.

Delegate Pham Khanh Phong Lan said: "In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we have achieved many results, which have been recognized by the world. However, I - as a citizen - only see that we have won, but if we replace or "behead" generals, it means we have failed. The entire health system and the number of health workers who have paid the price for the pandemic is too great."

Delegate Van Thi Bach Tuyet (HCMC delegation) proposed that the Government and the National Assembly soon promulgate the Law on Health Insurance to overcome the situation where doctors are not the ones who prescribe drugs or decide how to treat patients, but health insurance staff - people without expertise. Many doctors shared that when explaining to health insurance, they received very difficult questions "why prescribe this drug and not a drug in the list of drugs provided by health insurance...". The reason is that the regulations and procedures for medical payment make it difficult for patients and doctors.

Delegate Tran Van Sau (Dong Thap delegation) is concerned that the disease of “fear of responsibility”, withdrawal, passivity, and reluctance to make decisions is spreading from the medical industry to other professions. This is a problem that needs to be paid attention to and considered from many perspectives, and needs to be eliminated immediately. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the National Assembly needs to have a mechanism for those with authority to evaluate the behavior of others, and apply the law to judge so that what is legal is truly reasonable and justifiable.

Delegate Tran Thi Nhi Ha (Hanoi delegation) said that the current salary regime for grassroots medical staff has been applied since 2004, and has not changed in nearly 20 years. Or the allowance regime has been applied for more than 10 years. This is the reason why many doctors and nurses are not interested in the medical sector. The female delegate suggested that the contents of issuing salary and allowance regulations be included in the content that needs to be implemented immediately regarding policies for grassroots medical staff.

Source: https://vtc.vn/10-phat-bieu-an-tuong-cua-dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-o-phien-hop-ve-covid-19-y-te-co-so-ar786078.html