Also joining the working session were Deputy Director General Dao Viet Anh and leaders of several VSS units. The WB delegation, led by Philip O’Keefe, Director of Social Welfare for Southeast Asia, included senior economist Nguyen Thi Nga, head of social welfare and labour project group; chief financial expert Alwalleed Fareed Alatabani; and senior economist Caryn Bredenkamp, head of the healthcare group.

A representative of the VSS’s Department of International Cooperation said the WB has been always a major sponsor and development partner of the VSS in diverse areas, including technical assistance in fund management, technical assistance in pension reform and modernization, health insurance, technical assistance in social welfare e-card development, technical assistance in information technology system and information security and safety.

The WB and other international sponsors’ technical assistance projects for the VSS have brought positive results, helping to develop a social security system in a professional, modern, trustworthy, transparent and streamlined manner.

 At the working session, O’Keefe said ties between the WB and Vietnam are growing fruitfully, especially in social welfare. Over the years, the WB has assisted the VSS in building a modern and effective working system.

“In the near future, the WB will continue working with the VSS to develop a modern social security sector, improve the capacity of fund investment, the responsibility for the VSS fund payment and management efficiency,” he said.

O’Keefe said the WB is paying attention to several issues at the VSS, including amending the Government’s Decree No.01 on its functions, responsibilities and organisational structure.

Lauding the WB’s support, VSS Director General Nguyen Thi Minh said the VSS is a special agency tasked with implementing social and health insurance policies, collecting revenue, managing and using social and health insurance funds and conducting specialized inspections on social and health insurance paymenta in line with the law.

Also according to Minh, the Government has asked the VSS to focus on recommendations for the issuance of a new decree replacing Decree 01.

“The promulgation of a new decree that regulates the VSS’s functions and tasks are necessary, because IT is gradually replacing traditional technologies and streamlining administrative apparatus. Moreover, there will be a revolution within the multi-level pension system following Resolution 28, which will begin in 2021. This will be a big change in the social insurance system, leading to adjustments in the VSS’s functions and tasks,” Minh said.

In addition, the VSS is also the only agency that houses data of more than 90 million people, including over 80 million synchronised standard data sets, under which each person has a unique code.

“Many agencies and businesses want us to share the information, but it is national data, thus sharing must require strict regulations. We are also waiting for the Government to have a decree on sharing it. We hope that the WB will continue to support the VSS in terms of information security,” stressed Minh.

On medical cooperation, Caryn Bredenkamp said the WB wants to provide assistance for the VSS and the Ministry of Health to build a diagnosis system according to disease groups.

Bredenkamp also said that the system of services payment at hospitals has created several problems, including the performance of unnecessary tests and keeping patients in the hospital when not necessary. These have led to unreasonable payment of medical expenses – in other words, a corruption of the health insurance fund.

Therefore, she said the WB is willing to work with the VSS in developing a technical framework to provide the most accurate indication of treatment and medical costs. At the same time, if the VSS has demand, the WB will open training courses on the system for its staff.

Appreciating the proposals, Minh expressed her wish that the WB will soon work with the Ministry of Health to start research and put the system into practice./.