The Ministry of Health's plan to build more satellite hospitals to curb the overload at major hospitals is facing major challenges due to shortages of money and personnel.
Patients wait for their turn at Children's Hospital 1
Satellite hospitals will be given funds to foster medical expertise, technological knowledge and acquire equipment. The pilot programme was implemented at Bach Mai and Viet-Duc hospitals in northern region since 2005, with focus on general surgery and internal medicine.
Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Ministry of Health's Department of Medical Service Administration said, "The pilot programme has made some achievements, such as improving the capacity of local hospitals, limiting the number of patients need to transfer to central hospitals."
The Ministry of Health is preparing to build more satellite hospitals specialising in oncology, trauma- orthopedics, obstetric, pediatrics and cardiology. During the period between 2012-2015 satellite hospitals will be built in non-urban areas and from 2016-2020, they will be built in big cities.
The central hospitals must train staff and provide technology to satellite hospitals, with the aim of eventually transferring all patients who need similar treatment to these hospitals.
At an online conference on October 11, Director of HCMC Department of Health, Nguyen Tan Binh said,"The overcrowding of central hospitals is almost at its limit. The Oncology Hospital is now at 247% of its capacity, this means that two or three patients have to share a bed. Trauma - Orthopaedics Hospital, Children's Hospital No.1 and No.2 are at nearly 130% of their capacity."
Binh further said not only that hospitals are lacking doctors, they have to rotate upper level staff between hospitals to fulfill the stipulations of project 1816, which aims at improving medical care, and train staff at satellite hospitals at the same time. This stretch of personnel may cause problems, he said.
However, the worst of the programme's problems is a lack of funding.
According to plan, 100 satellite hospitals will be built across the country, with VND20 billion (USD960.000) for each satellite from state budget, local reciprocal capital and other sources. However the Ministry of Health has not decided how much they will contribute.
The sum of VND20 billion per satellite hospital is small compared with the estimated costs. The Children's Hospital No.2 plans to build its satellite hospitals in Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ba Ria provinces along with obstetric hospitals in Da Nang and Central Highland cost VND457.7 billion for phase 1. Other hospital's estimated costs are also higher than the Ministry of Health's.
Due to economic downturn, many think that the project needs at least two more years of Government support to be achievable. Many of the localities also face economic difficulties and cannot provide the matching funds needed.
Central hospitals can transfer technology and expertise but are unable to train staff properly without equipment.
According to many experts, the current and past projects overlap and take focus away.
