Due to high hospital fees, many people have run up debtors or absconded after their treatment.
High hospital fees create a poverty trap for many people
47% of hospital fee are paid directly by patients, which is higher than World Health Organisation (WHO)'s 30-40% advised rate. The new fees have been blamed for creating a poverty trap for people who don't have health insurance.
Pham Thi Hong, a local in Bao Yen District, Lao Cai Province has liver cancer but doesn’t have enough money to buy health insurance. She said her family don’t qualify for free health insurance because there are many households poorer than hers in the province. When she was hospitalised at the K Hospital, she couldn't afford the hospital fees and food and travel costs. Hong has returned home despite not finishing her treatment.
Even to the people who have health insurance, the huge cost of treatment for serious diseases means they face a similar situation.
Nguyen Tien Cong, head of the Children’s Department at the K Hospital said only health insurance for children under the age of six covers 100% of treatment costs. Parents of children older than six are still required to pay 20% of the cost. "This is a burden for low-income families." he said.
Nguyen Tien Quyet, head of Viet Duc Hospital said his hospital usually receives poor patients with severe illnesses. That's why lot of people have run away to avoid hospital fees. "We're owed huge amounts of money but don't know what to do." Quyet said.
In Vietnam, about 40% of poor people can't afford hospital treatment. According to statistic of United Nations Development Programme in 2010, 1.47% of people in Hanoi and 3.77% in HCMC said they did not dare to go to hospital because they couldn't afford it.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said many solutions have been proposed such as developing appropriate health financing policies, the offering of wider health insurance to people and an increase in better health insurance policies.
At the 63rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific Region held in Hanoi, WHO said it would support developing countries to improve their healthcare services.
