The programme was aimed at answering citizens’ questions relating to public health and the master plan on improving healthcare capacity of medical establishments at grassroots level.

According to Vice Chairman Duong Anh Duc, after hearing reports about operation of medical establishments at grassroots level, the HCM City People’s Committee asked leaders of departments, agencies, sectors and districts and communes to resolutely and promptly build measures and plans to submit to the committee for implementation direction.

Specifically, in order to reduce pressure of medical examination and treatment covered by health insurance at higher-level hospitals, the city’s People’s Committee proposed the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) and the Ministry of Health to allow the city to implement on a trial basis a number of mechanisms such as payment using health insurance at family clinics, healthcare services for patients at home and increasing the provision of kinds of medicines treating chronic diseases for local clinics.  Besides, the city needs to soon complete the master plan on improving healthcare capacity of hospitals at grassroots level, focusing on infrastructure, equipment, human resources and policies and mechanisms to attract doctors and nurses to work at health clinics, particularly promoting the development of the model of family doctors.

 Photo for illustration. (Source: Internet)

Besides, the city’s People’s Committee also submitted to the city’s People’s Council to consider and approve special policies about improving capacity for health clinics of communes, wards and towns, through which the city continued to ask local authorities to speed up the application of information technology to manage health records at health clinics; gradually develop models of family doctors; and study to operate health clinics following the public-private model to ensure best healthcare practice for the community. Particularly, the city will soon move health clinics managed by the municipal Department of Health to districts and suburban districts of Thu Duc City as planned, according to Duc.

Reviewing results of operation of grassroots health clinics on the community’s health in HCM City at present, Cao Thanh Bình, head of the Culture and Society Department of the municipal People’s Council, said the department carried out surveys at departments, sectors, districts, communes, medical centres and health clinics and listen to ideas of the city’s voters and realised that grassroots health clinics play important role in disease prevention and control and community’s healthcare and need more investment. However, in reality, grassroots healthcare activities still face many difficulties.   

According to Binh, the Department of Culture and Society also agreed with 12 groups of solutions proposed by relevant units and recommended to pay attention to four more issues, including soon moving health centres for districts, suburban districts and Thu Duc city to manage; soon submit to the municipal People’s Council the master plan to improve healthcare capacity for wards, communes and townships and policies to attract doctors and medical workers to work at grassroots medical facilities as well as to keep medical workers currently working at local health clinics; and study operation models of public-private medical stations to ensure best healthcare for the community.

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Council Nguyen Van Dung said during the programme, questions raised by the city’s voters and answers by relevant departments, agencies and the city’s People’s Committee basically met targets set by the programme. The council thanked for voters’ opinions and appreciated efforts of relevant agencies and the municipal People’s Committee in pandemic prevention and control which helped to promote creativeness of the health sector, resulting in the formation of many effective operation models for grassroots health clinics.

 Photo for illustration. (Source: Internet)

However, the city needs to pay attention to directing the building and implementation of synchronous measures to improve operation quality of grassroots health clinics, helping to increase healthcare quality for the community; and to ensure enough human resources for health clinics at grassroots levels to meet people’s medical examination and treatment demand.

It is also necessary to build preferential policies to motivate medical workers working at health clinics at grassroots levels.

Together with these solutions, the city also needs to have a strategy to invest in infrastructure and medical equipment and device in line with functions and tasks of the health sector at grassroots levels and have measures to effectively use medical equipment and device that were already purchased.

Measures are also needed to address shortcomings in medical examination and treatment covered by health insurance; improve mechanism to buy medicines for health clinics at grassroots levels; and issues relating to the grant of practice certificates for staff working at medical establishments at grassroots levels.

Particularly, the city should propose the Government amend and issue appropriate policies to help improve operation quality of medical centres at grassroots levels in the new normal in HCM City at present, Dung said./.