Manh made the statement when he chaired a meeting with the Hai Phong Social Insurance Agency on April 13 to review the achievements during the first quarter of this year as well as discuss solutions for the next period.

The social insurance agency was told to focus on digital transformation to catch up with the dynamism of the city, he said.

Manh said that some targets related to social insurance have yet to achieve results as expected, however, there is a lot of room for development in the future.

Therefore, it needs to pay more attention to proactively and consistently reaching the targets after the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled, he said.

Also at the meeting, he highly appreciated the efforts to overcome the difficulties of the branch during the pandemic, he said.

The branch had closely followed the direction of the People's Committee of the city and flexibly coordinated with relevant agencies to ensure the benefits of labourers during the pandemic, he said.

Acting Director of the branch Nguyen Thi Loc presents a report at the meeting.

Duong Van Hao, director of the Department of Social Insurance Book and Health Insurance Card said Hai Phong is one of eight localities with the number of health insurance participants increasing over 2021.

Hao said the branch was asked to promote increases in potential participants in the future.

Nguyen Van Phuc, director of the Department of Health Insurance Implementation, said the branch has issued practical solutions in fund management.

Along with that, it also received consensus from local medical facilities. It shows flexibility in coordination between the branch and relevant agencies, he said.

General Director of Viet Nam Social Security Nguyen The Manh chairs the meeting

The branch’s report

Acting Director of the branch Nguyen Thi Loc said in the first quarter of this year, although many officials and employees of the branch were infected with COVID-19, the branch still has actively coordinated with relevant agencies to smoothly implement policies on social, health and unemployment insurance in the city.

Since the beginning of this year, the branch has directed its units to run key programmes, building monthly and quarterly plans to effectively complete assigned tasks, especially increasing participants in voluntary social insurance and household health insurance, she said.

At the same time, it also determines to implement the plan of the Viet Nam Social Security on the implementation of Resolution No 01/NQ-CP and Resolution 02/NQ-CP of the Government on socio-economic development, contributing to improving national competitiveness, she said.

It already organised campaigns to mobilise local people to participate in voluntary social insurance and health insurance on the streets and at traditional markets as well as rewarding employees with successful initiatives in performing tasks, she said.

In the first quarter of this year, there was an increase of 27,802 people participating in social insurance in the city, consisting of 26,489 people participating in compulsory social insurance and 1,313 people participating in voluntary social insurance.

Delegates at the meeting

There was an increase of 37,760 people participating in health insurance, including 10,593 people participating in household health insurance.

The collection of social, health and unemployment insurance premiums reached VND2.76 trillion (US$119.8 million), accounting for 22.4 per cent of the assigned task.

The total debt of social, health and unemployment insurance as of March 31, 2022 is VND772.8 million ($33,600), about 0.78 per cent lower than the same period last year.

The branch invited an additional 319 units with 1,097 employees participating in compulsory social insurance through checking the tax data of the city.

The branch also handled 82,957 participants’ applications for social and unemployment insurance benefits, which was double figure in the same period last year.

The branch proactively cooperated with collection agents to organise five conferences, getting an additional 43 people participating in voluntary social insurance and 71 people participating in household health insurance.

It coordinated with collection agents in communes, wards and townships to organise 65 conferences, getting an additional 185 people participating in voluntary social insurance and 435 people participating in household health insurance.

On March 26, it got an additional 53 people participating in voluntary social insurance and 167 people in household health insurance.

In March, it coordinated with Vietcombank to give 170 social insurance books and 420 health insurance cards to people in difficult circumstances in three districts of An Duong, Kien Thuy and Vinh Bao./.