Experts: Local clinics in need of revamp

 

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – People require
medical care even before they fall sick, said Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim
Tien at the opening of a training programme to improve the quality of local
clinics and the country’s grass-roots level health care system, in Hanoi’s Dan
Phuong district.

The most troubling issue faced by clinics is
patients’ lack of faith due to inadequate medical supplies, equipment and
medical workers’ ability. As of now, the clinics also double as vaccination and
nutrition counselling centres for local communities, but when it comes to more
complicated tasks such as diabetic treatment and they
fall short of people’s expectations.

“On top of training courses to improve local
medical workers’ capacity, we will be sending skilled doctors from provincial
and national hospitals to work alongside them,” said Tien.

Also, according to the minister, the ministry is
working on a standardised model for local clinics. Some 26 clinics in eight
localities across the country are part of a pilot programme to include
acupuncture, massages, dental care, ultrasound scans, diabetic treatment and
other services.

“It is our expectation that the clinics will be
able to fulfil their intended purpose as the country’s grass-roots level health
care providers,” said the health minister.

A host of other incentives are being implemented
to attract patients to the clinics before heading to larger medical
institutions, a problem which partly contributes to overcrowding at provincial
and national hospitals. The ministry plans to increase their medical supplies,
extend their working hours and pilot a programme to provide medical care at
home where needed, as well as create personal health databases for local
communities.

An important function of local clinics is to
serve as gatekeepers in the fight against non-communicable diseases. Improving
the clinics’ capacity will be an effective solution to reduce the number of
deaths caused by non-communicable diseases in Vietnam, which total nearly
380,000 on a yearly basis, according to PhD. Jun Nakagawa, a representative of
the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“The lack of health services intended to treat
and prevent non-communicable diseases provided by local clinics is playing a
large part in such a high number,” said Nakagawa.

The WHO representative urged the ministry to
grant greater financial support and autonomy, identify and focus on a few
priorities instead of trying to cover too many objectives, make the prevention
and treatment of non-communicable diseases a mandatory function for clinics and
provide better financial incentives for medical workers.

During the first stage of the programme, an
additional 20 training courses are to be held at local clinics across the
country.

Leading experts in various fields will train
local medical workers to build health databases, conduct regular health checks,
early cancer detection, , and services for cardiovascular
diseases and senility, especially among elderly patients.  

According to a report by the health ministry in
2010, the number of equipped with basic equipment stood at just
26 percent, while 43 percent were categorised as “passable” and 31 percent as
“poor”. Some local clinics reported they only serve 10-15 patients on a daily
basis.-VNS/VNA