National Assembly Delegate: Low healthcare investment budget, patients have to 'carry' bank interest

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Delegate Hoang Van Cuong proposed that it is necessary to increase the allocation rate of development investment capital from the state budget for the two fields of health and education.

“Investment in education to develop intelligence and investment in health care to ensure vitality seem to be very obscure in the data on public investment,” said delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi delegation) at the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly on the morning of November 5. This was a discussion session on the implementation of the state budget in 2024, the state budget estimate, and the central budget allocation plan for 2025.

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong cited the reported data on budget development investment for ministries and central agencies in each field. Specifically, in 2024, of the total capital of about 120,000 billion VND, the Ministry of Health was allocated about 1,200 billion VND, accounting for about 1%. The Ministry of Education and Training was allocated 1,500 billion, accounting for 1.2%. In the 2025 estimate, the total budget is 148,000 billion VND, the Ministry of Health is allocated 3%, the Ministry of Education and Training is allocated 1.9%.

“In the plan to allocate the budget reserve for the period 2021 - 2025 and increase capital and revenue in 2022, with a total capital of about 50,000 billion, both health and education sectors are not listed in these investment programs. With such a low capital allocation, of course, hospitals under the Ministry of Health and universities under the Ministry of Education and Training do not have capital to invest in development,” said delegate Hoang Van Cuong.

“If hospitals are autonomous, their service costs will include expenses that are not properly constituted in medical costs,” Mr. Cuong analyzed. For example, the Phu Tho General Hospital and the Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital have spacious and modern facilities but face concerns beyond the expertise of medical examination and treatment, related to investment.

The concern of the leaders of these hospitals is not technical issues, nor is it about purchasing medicine or medical equipment. The most difficult and worrying thing is how to pay the 11% interest rate on the loan to invest in building the facility.

If only depreciation, investment and regular expenses are taken into account, the hospital does not have to worry about the cost and medical services. Now, adding the loan repayment and bank interest, the service costs have increased so much that patients cannot bear it. "The absurd thing is that when patients go for medical examination and treatment, they not only pay for medical services but also pay bank interest," he said.

“If we implement an autonomous mechanism but let universities and hospitals take care of themselves, manage themselves, and pay for themselves, it will be no different from a market-based autonomous mechanism and no longer a socialist orientation. Therefore, I propose that we need to increase the allocation of development investment capital from the state budget for the two sectors of health and education, at least enough to invest in building initial technical facilities,” said Mr. Cuong.

The Vice President of the National Economics University said that this problem also occurs in universities. If the school has to borrow money to invest in construction and pay bank interest, the training cost will be very high because it has to bear both the initial basic investment cost and the bank interest. This is also one of the obstacles for hospitals and schools when implementing autonomy.

Minh Anh

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/dbqh-ngan-sach-dau-tu-y-te-thap-benh-nhan-phai-cong-ca-lai-suat-ngan-hang-ar905659.html