Provincial medical sector outreach through barriers

Sixty-nine years ago on February 27, 1955, beloved President Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to the National Health Conference, emphasising: "Healthcare workers must love and care for patients as if they were their own flesh and blood. They must feel the pain of patients as their own. Medical treatment must be like that of a mother." Throughout the years, his teachings have served as a guiding doctrine for generations of doctors, officials, and healthcare staff in Binh Duong, who have continuously strived to overcome difficulties and hardships to effectively meet the healthcare needs of the people.

A year of changes

The year 2023 is the following-up of myriad drawbacks and challenges posed by significant losses and serious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the determination of leadership, guidance from Party committees, government authorities, the involvement of the entire political system, and the consensus of the people, and business community have positioned the economic and social development targets of the province on the peak to achieve important and quite comprehensive results in various areas.

In order to meet the new demands of the job, the doctors in the province are constantly striving to research and learn to master the technologies in diagnosing, treating diseases, and serving patients

Beside continual focus on epidemic prevention and control, the provincial healthcare sector has made new development, by essentially completing regular targets and tasks such as the health insurance coverage rate for households and individuals participating in health insurance at over 92 and sustainably maintaining the replacement birth rate. The sector has completed the draft of the Comprehensive Development Plan for the provincial healthcare sector by 2023, with a vision for 2050 and submitted it to Binh Duong provincial People's Council for the issuance of 4 resolutions on policies for the recruitment, attraction, training of healthcare staff, and the allocation of regular budget. Treatment and prevention are being focused on as the quality of examination and treatment is gradually being improved to basically meet the needs and expectations of the people.

At the recent healthcare sector review conference, Dr. Nguyen Hong Chuong, Director of the Department of Health, stated: "In the time ahead, the healthcare sector will continue to face numerous difficulties, challenges, and many issues that require attention. This demands that the management team, medical professionals, and doctors continue to make efforts, overcome all difficulties, and uphold medical ethics as advised by President Ho Chi Minh: 'Physicians must be exemplary' to leverage their intellect, talent, and expertise. The sector needs to continue improving the quality of scientific research, training staff associated with solving economic problems to take care of people's lives, increasing income for the entire sector to solve the basic and effective tasks assigned in the context of post-COVID-19, along with internal difficulties of the sector as it stands today.”

Digitisation for better publich health-care

The current digital technology revolution is present in all aspects of economic and social life, with no field standing outside the trend. Seizing such opportunity, the provincial healthcare sector has, in recent years, been focusing on implementing three comprehensive electronic healthcare programs: Building infrastructure, implementing electronic health statistics, electronic health records, electronic medical records, software for managing health stations in communes, wards, and towns, and operating a one-stop online public service system. The sector has proactively promoted digital transformation in the process of examination and treatment, incurring satisfaction among the people.

The provincial general hospital is implementing a model of medical examination and treatment using citizen identity card with chip. With this model, the hospital contributes to administrative procedure reform, reduces waiting time, avoids health insurance abuse, and ensures transparency in hospital fee payment. Previously, every time going for a medical examination, Mrs. Duong Thi Mong in Phu Tan ward of Thu Dau Mot city had to get up very early to prepare the documents and line up to register for the examination, which was very cumbersome and time-consuming. Lately, when arriving at the hospital, Mong no longer needed to line up as her medical examination information was stored in the system, so she could go for the examination without having to hold any other documents. Mong said: "Previously, when going for a medical examination, I had to spend the whole morning, but now it only takes 30 minutes to go and return. The paperwork and procedures are simple, the doctors, physicians, and staff provide thorough guidance and clear explanations to patients, so I am very satisfied."

In order to meet the new requirements of the job, the team of doctors in the province is constantly striving to research and learn to master the technologies in diagnosing, treating diseases, and serving patients well. Prominent achievements of the provincial General Hospital in the past 2 years were foot amputation for patients with severed foot, finger and toe transplantation,large tumor surgery in the facial, head, neck areas, endoscopic surgery for colon tumors, whole stomach tumors, bladder tumors or prostate tumors, pacemaker implantation, heart valve replacement, and coronary artery intervention. Most recently, Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Lan Hieu, Director of Hanoi Medical University Hospital, Director of the provincial General Hospital has implemented the stroke unit of the Neurology Department to reperfuse the brain arteries with medication, saving many stroke patients.

Reported by Kim Ha – Translated by Vi Bao