PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc officially handed the appointment of the position of the Minister of Health to Nguyen Thanh Long.
The PM praised Long's contribution to the country while he was the acting minister of health amid Covid-19 outbreaks. He also emphasised the important role of the health sector and challenges in the future.
He also announced ten key objectives for the new minister. The first and foremost is to control Covid-19 outbreak and other contagious diseases, especially after recent floods. The second is to complete the regulations to improve medical service quality and reduce costs. The minister was also asked to deal with overcrowding at hospitals, food safety and hygiene catering problems at schools and industrial parks and how to extend health insurance coverage.
Other tasks are better management and monitoring the privatisation process of many public hospitals, improve preventive medicines and localities medical stations so that patients can get good medical care in their wards or districts.
The minister was asked to have plans to improve the medical sector with new technology and the use of both traditional and modern medicine. He also must improve doctor training courses and promote scientific research and international co-operation.
Long promised to focus on the given tasks to make the health sector better and people in remote areas can still access to quality services.
"I promise to be devoted and innovative. Along with other agencies and co-workers, we'll overcome challenges and constantly improve the health sector for public benefits," he said.
