In the coastal central province of Quang Binh, dissemination of health insurance for students has been given special attention and direction by Quang Binh Social Security Office as well as the provincial Department of Education and Training.

Pham Thanh Tung, director of Quang Binh Social Security Office, gives certificates of merit to outstanding organisations and individuals

The two agencies have coordinated to organise conferences to assess the situation, point out shortcomings and discuss effective solutions to attract the participation of students in health insurance.

Ho An Phong, deputy chairman of the provincial People's Committee, said that the policy on health insurance was very important for students.

He said despite many difficulties, the province had always paid attention to developing the participation of students in health insurance.

He said it had assigned specific targets, requiring each locality to synchronously deploy solutions to complete the given tasks.

Besides, Phong also requested Quang Binh Social Security Office to actively coordinate with relevant agencies to advise the provincial People's Committee effective solutions to attract more students so that it could achieve the goal of all students participating in health insurance for the school year of 2023-24.

Statistics showed that there were 182,246 students participating in health insurance in the 2022-23 school year, reaching a coverage rate of 97.16 per cent and increasing 2.57 per cent compared to the previous school year.

Nguyen Minh Tuan, deputy director of Quang Binh Social Security Office, gives certificates of merit to outstanding organisations and individuals

As of July 31, 2023, Quang Binh Social Security Office spent nearly VND7 billion (US$292,000) on 511 educational establishments to provide primary health care for students.

The amount of funding had helped many establishments give health care for students at school.

Between September 1, 2022, and August 2023, the province had 70,557 students going for medical examination, covered by the health insurance fund, worth a total of VND33 billion ($1.3 million). The medical cost, covered by the health insurance fund, doubled compared to the previous school year.

The health insurance fund is believed to assist many students to overcome illness to continue their studies.

Notably, the health insurance fund paid for 183 students whose treatment costs ranged from VND10 million ($417) to VND295 million ($12,300).

Illustrative Photo: Source Internet

Besides the achieved results, several shortcomings are still found, including the percentage of students participating in health insurance still has not reached 100 per cent so far in the province; the percentage of students participating in health insurance even decreased compared to the previous school year in some schools.

In the northern mountainous province of Son La, the provincial Social Security Office has also taken drastic measures to strive to complete the goal of all students participating in the health insurance in the 2023-24 school year.

Communication is identified to play an important role in raising awareness of students in participating in health insurance, the office said.

The office plans to continue to advise the provincial People's Committee to direct relevant agencies to coordinate and order educational establishments and schools in the province to strictly implement the health insurance policy for students.

The office will require principals of schools where the number of students participating in the health insurance failed to reach 100 per cent to report and assess the implementation.

Illustrative Photo: Source Internet

The office will also ask medical facilities in the province to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment, and coordinate with educational establishments to create favourable conditions for students to receive health care, covered by the health insurance fund.

It schedules to diversify communication forms relating to student health insurance policy, especially, coordinating with local media and press agencies to disseminate the meaning, humanitarian values, and community sharing of the health insurance policy.

It will work with the Student Association and the Youth Union to disseminate the health insurance policy to students, strengthen administrative reform and information and technology application, create favourable conditions and ensure rights for students who participate in the health insurance according to the provisions of law, call on local businesses and kind-hearted people to award health insurance cards to students with difficult circumstances in the province.

In the school year of 2022-23, the rate of students participating in health insurance reached 99 per cent in the whole province.

Many schools achieved a rate of 100 per cent of students participating in health insurance. The results are gained thanks to coordination among relevant agencies in the province.

However, the implementation of the policy on health insurance for students in the province has still faced difficulties, such as local people's income and living standards are generally low; some parents are not deeply aware of the humanity, and necessity of participating in health insurance./.