Hospital lacks radiotherapy machines, thousands of cancer patients have to be transferred to other hospitals

Cancer patients in the province must return to Hanoi

“The Oncology Center of Vinh Phuc General Hospital has performed very well in surgery and chemotherapy in cancer treatment, but each year, more than 2,000 cancer patients here still have to be transferred to Hanoi for radiotherapy because the hospital does not have enough equipment,” shared Dr. Le Van Tinh, Director of Vinh Phuc General Hospital, about the reality at this hospital.

Lacking equipment, every year, thousands of cancer patients at Vinh Phuc General Hospital have to go to Hanoi for radiotherapy.

According to Mr. Tinh, with a team of human resources that is always improving in terms of expertise and equipment conditions, the rate of inpatients at provincial hospitals that have to be transferred to higher-level hospitals has decreased from 9.3% (in 2021) to 4.2% in 2024.

“If we are fully equipped with more specialized equipment, our referral rate will continue to decrease, below 4%,” Mr. Tinh said.

At the conference on improving the quality of healthcare in Vinh Phuc province held today, affirming that the province has comprehensively supported the province's healthcare sector in terms of expertise and human resource training, especially with Vinh Phuc Provincial General Hospital, Director of Bach Mai Hospital Dao Xuan Co assessed: "Currently, this is the most beautifully built provincial hospital in the north, but it still lacks medical equipment, such as cardiovascular and oncology."

According to Mr. Co, before Vinh Phuc, Bach Mai Hospital signed a contract with 12 provinces to support the improvement of medical capacity. Bach Mai currently has a complete multidisciplinary strength with 57 specialties, each department is equivalent in scale to a specialized hospital with hundreds of employees. For example, the Gastrointestinal Center of Bach Mai Hospital performs 800 - 1,200 digestive endoscopy cases per day. With regard to oncology, this year there will be more modern equipment systems serving diagnosis and treatment.

Not just looking forward to the budget pie

Mr. Co said that in order to develop healthcare, there should be more funding to purchase equipment, instead of just waiting for investment from the local budget, he suggested that the Department of Health of Vinh Phuc province propose to the provincial People's Council and the provincial People's Committee to approve public hospitals such as Vinh Phuc General Hospital to have additional medical examination and treatment services on demand, providing services to patients with the ability to pay.

Revenue from on-demand medical examination and treatment helps the hospital balance its income and expenditure, especially providing resources for human resources and purchasing equipment to serve health insurance patients. Because the provincial general hospital currently has very good infrastructure but equipment is still lacking.

Through a field survey at Vinh Phuc General Hospital, Mr. Co assessed that the provincial hospital had inaugurated a Stroke Center, but needed to invest in more machines to develop more effectively. Or in the cardiovascular specialty, the hospital's team of doctors had good capacity but still needed more angiography machines to do better professional work.

Regarding oncology, Mr. Co shared that Vinh Phuc province currently has 1.3 million people but every year has to transfer 2,000 - 2,300 patients to Hanoi for radiotherapy, which is very difficult for the patients.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/benh-vien-thieu-may-xa-tri-ca-ngan-benh-nhan-ung-thu-phai-chuyen-vien-185250103203148628.htm