Ho Chi Minh City has more than 600 medical staff quitting in 2024

Doctor Nguyen Hoai Nam - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health - speaking at the monitoring session - Photo: BUI NHI

On April 15, the Culture and Social Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council had a meeting to supervise the quality of human resources and the effectiveness of public investment in Ho Chi Minh City with the Department of Health.

In 2024, more than 600 medical staff will quit their jobs

According to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health in 2024, the city's health sector recorded 642 employees quitting their jobs, including 286 doctors, 259 nurses, midwives, and medical technicians, a decrease of 28.5% compared to 2023.

In 2023, the city's health sector will have 898 civil servants - including 350 doctors, 365 nurses and midwives - quitting their jobs, a decrease of 21.85% compared to 2021 and a decrease of 41.4% compared to 2022.

The reason is due to work pressure, low income, switching to work at other public health units, private sector, private clinics to have higher income.

It is worth mentioning that the number of medical staff who quit their jobs had worked for many years in the industry and had a lot of high professional experience. Meanwhile, most of the newly recruited staff were young doctors and nurses who had just graduated and needed a short time to train.

Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nam - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health - said that according to statistics, the ratio of nurses, midwives or doctors in the clinical block of public health facilities in the city is 1.86, not meeting the target of 2.5 nurses, midwives/doctor according to the patient care structure.

Hospitals are facing a shortage of nursing resources due to lack of incentives, stressful work, difficulties in directly caring for patients and ensuring many different jobs.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health recommends that the Central Government and the Government increase the allowance for toxic and dangerous conditions for medical staff working in toxic environments.

In particular, it is proposed to add seniority allowances for hard-to-recruit positions such as nursing and clinical midwifery so that they can feel secure in their profession.

Propose that the Ministry of Health add nursing assistant and dental assistant positions requiring intermediate level or lower in public health facilities to reduce pressure on nurses.

Medical staff in Ho Chi Minh City support patients during examination and treatment - Photo: THU HIEN

There is still a shortage of medical equipment.

According to Dr. Nam, in the 2021-2025 medium-term investment plan, the city's health sector has 35 projects approved by the City People's Council for investment with a total investment of more than 13,000 billion VND.

Regarding equipment, Dr. Nam added that the overload of some public hospitals has led to a shortage of medical equipment and deterioration, affecting medical examination and treatment. In this situation, some units have implemented public-private partnerships in the use of equipment (installing machines from private units).

As of 2018, there were 109 projects implementing equipment installation, hospitals providing services with a total value of 1,100 billion VND, partner capital was 997 billion VND.

The advantage of this form is that the equipment is supplied very quickly and is still covered by health insurance, reducing the burden on the budget, and medical facilities are invested in modern equipment.

However, from 2018 to now, units have not implemented this form of socialization due to many legal constraints such as: no guiding documents on joint ventures, associations, financial plans, etc.

Therefore, the Department of Health has encouraged units to borrow money themselves (especially stimulus loans) to reduce costs for patients because they do not have to bear interest rates from investors and unnecessary service prescriptions.

The Department of Health recommends that the Central Government and the Government need to perfect and stabilize policies such as investment policies, preferential policies for land allocation or lease, public-private partnership regulations, etc. to attract private investment in healthcare.

Classify projects, boldly call for investors

Concluding the meeting, Mr. Cao Thanh Binh, Head of the Culture and Society Committee, Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, acknowledged the recommendations and proposals of the Department of Health. Mr. Binh said that many investors are eager to participate in projects in the health sector.

Accordingly, the industry needs to research and evaluate, and then classify projects to boldly call for investment, aiming at providing the best health care for the people, as well as affirming the position and role of the health sector of Ho Chi Minh City.

"Currently, there are many tourists coming to Ho Chi Minh City for tourism, relaxation, and medical treatment. This is a great opportunity for the health sector to exploit and develop," Mr. Binh emphasized.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tp-hcm-co-hon-600-nhan-vien-y-te-nghi-viec-trong-nam-2024-20250415112900473.htm