Vietnam says no to privatising state-run hospitals
Sunday, 12 April 2009
HANOI, Apr 11 (Reuters ): Vietnam's ruling Communist Party said state-owned hospitals will not be privatised, effectively ending a debate of the past few years over a plan to diversify ownership of treatment facilities in the health sector.
But Vietnam encourages the private sector to join in building new hospitals run as joint-stock companies, joint ventures and private clinics, Saturday's Liberation Saigon daily run by the Ho Chi Minh City Communist Party chapter cited a Politburo directive as saying.
The Politburo said the government should use state budget funds, bond issuance receipts and foreign aid to upgrade state-owned hospitals and provide treatment to the poor, ethnic minorities and children below the age of 6, the daily said.
In 2007 the Health Ministry and Ho Chi Minh government planned to privatise a hospital on a trial basis but the project was stalled because of social organisations blocked it, fearing a rise in fees.
Vietnam's state-run healthcare system is straining to treat a population of 86 million that is vulnerable to a wide variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases.
The middle class that has emerged in the booming economy in recent years has used internationally-operated clinics or travelled to Singapore or Thailand for treatment of serious illnesses.
The health sector's value accounted for only 1.25 per cent of Vietnam's gross domestic product of $87 billion in 2008, down from 1.41 per cent in 2007, government figures show.
But Vietnam encourages the private sector to join in building new hospitals run as joint-stock companies, joint ventures and private clinics, Saturday's Liberation Saigon daily run by the Ho Chi Minh City Communist Party chapter cited a Politburo directive as saying.
The Politburo said the government should use state budget funds, bond issuance receipts and foreign aid to upgrade state-owned hospitals and provide treatment to the poor, ethnic minorities and children below the age of 6, the daily said.
In 2007 the Health Ministry and Ho Chi Minh government planned to privatise a hospital on a trial basis but the project was stalled because of social organisations blocked it, fearing a rise in fees.
Vietnam's state-run healthcare system is straining to treat a population of 86 million that is vulnerable to a wide variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases.
The middle class that has emerged in the booming economy in recent years has used internationally-operated clinics or travelled to Singapore or Thailand for treatment of serious illnesses.
The health sector's value accounted for only 1.25 per cent of Vietnam's gross domestic product of $87 billion in 2008, down from 1.41 per cent in 2007, government figures show.