Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien delivers a speech at the in New York on September 23. (Photo: VNA)New York (VNA) – About 81 percent of patients questioned said they are satisfied with medical services in Vietnam,
cited an independent survey while
delivering a speech at a United Nations meeting on September 23.
The UN
High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage took place in New York on
September 23 during the UN General Assembly (UNGA) high-level week. The
meeting, themed “Universal Health Coverage: Moving Together to Build a
Healthier World”, brought
together heads of state, political and health leaders, policy-makers and
universal health coverage champions from 169 countries around the world.
Vietnam has
made various efforts in strengthening the primary healthcare system to provide better
services to its people and allow them to enjoy state- and health
insurance-funded medical programmes, Tien said.
A primary
healthcare system has been established from the central to grassroot levels in
Vietnam with more than 11,000 commune-based medical stations, most of which
have at least a doctor, a nurse and a midwife working based on the model of
family medical practice, the minister said.
She cited the
“Tracking Universal Health Coverage: 2017 Global Monitoring Report” jointly
produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank (WB), saying
Vietnam scored 73 out of the 100 points in service
coverage delivery index in the report, which was higher than the Southeast
Asia’s average score of 59 and the global average of 64.
About 90
percent of the Vietnamese population is covered in health
insurance and the Government
of Vietnam subsidises 100 percent of premiums for the poor and 70 percent of
the premiums for the near-poor, she added.
Universal
healthcare is a pathway to
achieve Health-related Sustainable Development Goals, she continued,
adding Vietnam has enforced 10
reforms to enhance effectiveness of its healthcare system, particularly
improving the competence of primary healthcare clinics to provide better
services for both ill and healthy people.
Vietnam has reformed its financial mechanism and
invested in infrastructure development in the health sector while providing
extra training for medical workers at primary healthcare service providers, Tien said, adding that the reforms have
promoted patient-centred care to make the patients more satisfied with the local
medical services.
The minister also said the biggest challenge to Vietnam’s
healthcare sector is how to come up with a suitable financial mechanism for
universal medical system as more funding have been allocated to pay for
treatment services rather than primary and preventive healthcare.
This UN
High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage aimed to garner financial and political commitments
from countries and sustain health investments. The meeting was called for in December 2017 when the UN passed a resolution
on global health and foreign policy, addressing the health of the most vulnerable
for an inclusive society./.
Source: VietnamPlus
