Associate Professor, Dr. Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, shared with Thanh Nien Newspaper reporters that in the new era - the era of national development, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector has identified key activities that need to focus resources. This is to meet the increasing health care needs of not only the people of Ho Chi Minh City, the provinces and cities in the southern region, but also foreigners living, working and traveling in the city.
Many specialized and high-tech techniques are deployed by the Vietnamese medical sector in the field of pediatrics.
PHOTO: NGOC DUONG
According to the head of the Ho Chi Minh City health sector, the city has clearly identified four key groups of tasks that need to continue to be implemented synchronously. These are to continue to strengthen and improve disease prevention capacity; strengthen primary health care, develop community health care, and effectively manage non-communicable diseases; develop a professional out-of-hospital emergency network; and promote the development of specialized health care in the direction of Ho Chi Minh City soon becoming a health care center of the ASEAN region.
In addition, the health sector focuses on strengthening cooperation with international organizations, learning from experiences of developed countries to improve the quality of health services. Encourage investment from the private sector and abroad in the health sector, especially in medical technology research and development projects. In particular, focus on investing in research and production of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment domestically to reduce dependence on imports.
We are aiming for the pharmaceutical industry to reach level 4, the level where the pharmaceutical industry can produce innovative drugs. We have specific policies on science and technology, incentives for enterprises developing high-tech drugs, including some high technologies and innovative drugs in the preferential list, promoting investment, supporting export enterprises, aiming to export 1 billion USD worth of drugs by 2030.
Mr. Vu Tuan Cuong, Director of the Department of Drug Administration (Ministry of Health)
Important solutions
To carry out the above key tasks, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Tang Chi Thuong, Ho Chi Minh City has proposed many solutions. Firstly, investing in modern infrastructure. Specifically, improving and expanding the system of hospitals, clinics and modern medical equipment to meet the increasing demand for medical examination and treatment. In particular, continuing to invest in specialized medical clusters according to Ho Chi Minh City's development plan, which is the existing Central Medical Cluster and new clusters such as Tan Kien Cluster (Binh Chanh District) and Thu Duc City Cluster. Ho Chi Minh City clearly identifies not only investing in modern infrastructure for treatment facilities, but also preventive facilities and high-tech disease screening centers.
The second solution is to train high-quality medical staff. Ho Chi Minh City is constantly improving the professional qualifications of its medical staff and nurses through training and coaching programs at home and abroad. Currently, the Department of Health is drafting a specific policy to advise the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to submit to the People's Council to attract young talent and the future generation of leaders in the health sector. In particular, it focuses on the force of resident doctors and nurses.
Third, promote the application of technology and build a smart healthcare system. Accordingly, apply advanced technologies such as AI, IoT and telemedicine to improve the effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment. Integrate medical data on a digital platform, creating favorable conditions for management, monitoring people's health and supporting medical decision-making. Deploy an electronic medical record system to effectively manage patient information, minimize errors and save time. Continue to accelerate the integration of the Electronic Health Book on VNeID and the electronic health record integrated on the Ho Chi Minh City digital citizen app.
Doctor Dinh Tan Phuong, Head of the Emergency Department of Children's Hospital 1 (HCMC) examines a child patient.
PHOTO: NGOC DUONG
In addition, continue to develop primary health care, promote solutions to strengthen disease prevention and improve public health. Promote campaigns to raise awareness about disease prevention, nutrition, healthy lifestyles in the community, and good management of non-communicable diseases. Build a monitoring and early warning system for infectious diseases, especially in the context of climate change and globalization. Proactively plan to respond to the impacts of climate change and environmental pollution on public health. Prepare health care solutions suitable for an aging population, including long-term care and rehabilitation services.
In the coming time, the health sector will continue to implement annual health check-ups for Ho Chi Minh City residents. Priority will be given to the elderly, followed by pregnant women, newborns and students. In addition to early detection and early intervention of health-related issues, through health check-ups, the health sector will establish digital data on people's health, which will serve as an important foundation for electronic health records.
"Sturdy tripod"
"For hospitals in particular, facing new requirements, the health sector has identified an important "three-legged stool" that needs to be strived for as a solid foundation for development in the new era," Associate Professor, Dr. Tang Chi Thuong affirmed.
Specifically, the hospital constantly develops specialized techniques, increases the deployment of advanced applications with high technology content, especially AI, IoT, 3D printing, etc. The hospital strives to achieve international standards of quality and standards of technical expertise, which is an important basis for international health insurance companies to sign contracts for medical examination and treatment for foreigners. Effectively deploy sustainable financial autonomy solutions, in addition to promoting savings and combating waste in the operations of medical facilities.
This "three-legged tripod" is also an important requirement for Ho Chi Minh City to promote the implementation of medical tourism, a service that will be coordinated by departments and branches to develop a project for implementation in the near future. Ho Chi Minh City's health sector promotes the spirit of initiative, creativity and constant innovation to not only meet current health care needs but also contribute to the sustainable development of Ho Chi Minh City. "The combination of investment in modern infrastructure, training high-quality human resources, promoting the application of advanced techniques with high technology content, especially applications integrating artificial intelligence and enhancing international cooperation will be the key for Ho Chi Minh City's health sector to reach new heights," emphasized the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health.
National health development strategy
At the national level, in the era of national development, with the health sector, innovation, promoting digital transformation in health with 3 main contents: smart disease prevention, smart medical examination and treatment and smart medical management.
Modern techniques and technology on par with international standards are deployed by the medical industry in hospitals.
PHOTO: NGOC DUONG
Dr. Nguyen Ngo Quang, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Training (Ministry of Health) said that the Ministry of Health focuses on perfecting regulations to create a legal environment for implementing innovation in training medical human resources towards international integration. Strengthening the development of medical human resources to meet the requirements in the new situation, including quantity, quality, structure, allocation, efficiency of human resource use and competitiveness.
Next is the breakthrough in science and technology development. In the period up to 2030, focus on researching and applying advanced techniques, methods and technologies in the medical field such as AI, personalized 3D printing, immune cells, stem cells, specialized medical devices, new drugs, new vaccines, building level 4 biosafety rooms to prevent epidemics and chronic diseases, cancer...
At the same time, the Ministry of Health promotes digital transformation of healthcare, completes the construction, connection and synchronous sharing of national healthcare databases, specialized healthcare databases, effectively exploits and uses digital resources and digital healthcare data. Prioritizes and focuses on directing the progress of implementing the tasks of Project 06; accelerates the progress of deploying electronic health records on VNeID, connecting test results... Gradually forming a smart healthcare system with 3 main contents: smart disease prevention, smart medical examination and treatment and smart healthcare management.
According to the representative of the Ministry of Health, medical innovation involves the development and implementation of new processes, products, programs, policies or systems to improve health and equity in access to health services. Innovation can be breakthrough technological solutions that promote scientific research and development to address increasing and ever-changing health needs according to social developments and disease patterns. As the reality of preventing the Covid-19 pandemic has made medical innovation more popular, involving more actors than ever. For example, SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance and data sharing, mRNA vaccines, telemedicine, clinical management systems, etc.
"Innovation in healthcare refers to the development and application of new ideas, technologies, processes and solutions that improve quality and promote the application of scientific advances in medicine, in all specialized fields from primary health care, disease prevention, medical examination and treatment, production of drugs, vaccines, biological products and medical equipment," Mr. Nguyen Ngo Quang informed.
Ensuring pharmaceutical security, mastering vaccine technology
Mr. Nguyen Ngo Quang shared more about the national preventive medicine sector, vaccines are affirming their important role in proactive epidemic prevention. Vietnam has now mastered vaccine production technology when it has produced 14 types domestically.
vaccines; in the near future, there will be another vaccine and biological product manufacturing plant invested by VNVC. In particular, for many years, the clinical trial management system has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO). This shows that we have mastered advanced technologies and techniques in preventing dangerous infectious diseases and newly emerging diseases.
With advanced techniques in diagnosis and treatment, we have gradually applied molecular biology, nuclear medicine, and cell therapy at costs only 1/2 - 1/3 of foreign countries. In the country, we are also researching and applying diagnostic technology, cell therapy, acquiring and mastering research technology to produce drugs that are essentially proteins and enzymes; discovering and applying biological indicators related to cancers and genetic diseases; researching on stem cell differentiation and monoclonal antibodies.
For more information on pharmaceutical industry development and ensuring pharmaceutical security, Director of the Department of Drug Administration (Ministry of Health) Vu Tuan Cuong said that there are currently 238 factories of 205 units in the country that meet GMP standards. Of these, there are 162 new pharmaceutical factories, 7 vaccine factories, 15 biological factories, 8 new pharmaceutical raw material factories, 92 traditional medicine factories, and 55 traditional medicine raw material factories. There are 18 facilities with drug production lines that meet EU-GMP or equivalent. Domestic drugs account for 70% of the quantity used.
"We are aiming for the pharmaceutical industry to reach level 4, the level where the pharmaceutical industry can produce innovative drugs. We have specific policies on science and technology, incentives for enterprises developing high-tech drugs, including some high technologies and innovative drugs in the incentive list, promoting investment, supporting export enterprises, with the goal of exporting 1 billion USD worth of drugs by 2030," said the Director of the Department of Drug Administration.
It is necessary to change the way of thinking about the medical field. Health care is not only about examining and treating patients, but more importantly, it is about taking care of people's health to limit diseases; it is necessary to focus on researching disease prevention measures, improving health, and prolonging life. At the same time, strengthen the capacity for reproductive health, pediatrics and geriatrics; strengthen public health; increase the number of people visiting medical facilities for annual or semi-annual health check-ups.
Focus on removing difficulties, barriers, and bottlenecks so that the health sector can rise up, so that we can have "a health system suitable to the needs of our people" as Uncle Ho wished for 70 years ago.
Strengthening the application of digital technology in medical management and treatment, it is necessary to promote digital transformation in medical management; deploying electronic medical records, synchronizing health data between hospitals and medical facilities; strengthening the application of AI and Big Data in disease diagnosis, treatment and analysis of disease trends. At the same time, investing in developing software to support doctors in making treatment decisions, increasing the accuracy of disease diagnosis; strengthening the application of AI in smart diagnosis; organ transplantation; developing stem cell technology; gene therapy engineering; robotic surgery; 3D printing technology to personalize medical equipment for personalized medicine...".
Excerpt from General Secretary To Lam's speech at the working session with the Ministry of Health on the occasion of Vietnamese Doctors' Day, February 27.
Thanhnien.vn
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nganh-y-te-vuon-minh-185250226224859713.htm
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