Develop a special regime and on-duty allowances for village health workers

On December 2, the National Assembly discussed the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the work of protecting, caring for and improving people's health; national target program on health care, population and development.

Explaining and clarifying the issues that delegates are concerned about about the proposal to exempt hospital fees and diversify health insurance packages, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan suggested that the Resolution should only stipulate general principles and assign the Government to guide implementation.

If the resolution stipulates too much detail about the subjects and roadmap, when there are problems with resources and implementation conditions, the resolution cannot be amended immediately.

Regarding the salary and allowance policies for health workers, Minister Dao Hong Lan commented that "there have been many difficulties in the recent past".

During the process of drafting Resolution 72, the Politburo allowed the Government to select a number of subjects and levels to gradually increase the allowance regime for health workers.

The Ministry of Health is also submitting to the Government the development of a Decree on special regimes, such as on-duty allowances and other allowances for village health workers.

"Currently, the draft Decree has been submitted to the Government. There are contents that need to be included here for guidance in the spirit of Resolution 72, but there are also issues that are part of the regular tasks that the Ministry is implementing," said the Minister.

Regarding the national target program related to elderly care, the Minister said that this issue has been integrated into the 4th project of the program with specific targets on repairing and building new social protection and nursing facilities to serve population policies and development.

In the current Decree 103/2017/ND-CP, nursing facilities are allowed to organize health departments, general clinics or rehabilitation departments according to the provisions of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment.

Regarding the policy of attracting socialization, in addition to the existing incentives in Article 16 of the Law on Investment for the field of caring for the elderly, people with disabilities and children, this draft special resolution also proposes additional breakthrough solutions on land and taxes.

Accordingly, nursing facilities will be the direct beneficiaries of these new policies, creating motivation to attract investment resources.

Explaining further the proposal to increase investment in the geriatric medical examination and treatment system, the head of the health sector informed that there are currently 3 geriatric hospitals nationwide, 14 central hospitals and 48 provincial hospitals with geriatric departments.

"In the public investment program, the Ministry of Health has included investment in central-level geriatric hospitals. At the same time, Decision 201 on adjusting the planning of the network of medical facilities is being reviewed in conjunction with the arrangement of local governments.

I suggest that localities identify this as an important task, after having the plan, they should pay attention to implementation," the Minister stated.

Regarding the grassroots health network, the Ministry of Health is reviewing and rearranging it to suit the two-level local government model. It is expected that by 2026, the Ministry of Health will issue a new set of criteria for commune-level health stations, ensuring flexibility and a suitable roadmap for the next 5 years.

The program's budget allocation mechanism is also designed to increase decentralization. The Central Government will allocate total capital and allocate estimates, while the Provincial People's Council will decide in detail on implementation in the area.

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