3 financial solutions to exempt hospital fees for people

Improve the quality of medical services

With the theme "Sharing knowledge - international integration", the 2025 International Science Conference was organized by Bach Mai Hospital and Nghe An General Hospital for 2 days, May 16-17, with 250 scientific reports (24 topics), attracting the participation of many leading experts at home and abroad. This is a conference to update new knowledge in the field of medical examination and treatment and expand the international cooperation network.

According to Associate Professor Dao Xuan Co, the policy of free hospitalisation for all people aims to ensure that all people have access to medical services without having to worry about costs.

PHOTO: THE ANH

Sharing on the sidelines of the conference on improving the quality of medical examination and treatment, especially moving towards free medical examination and treatment for people, Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co, Director of Bach Mai Hospital affirmed that the policy of exempting hospital fees for all people initiated by General Secretary To Lam is a great policy, with extremely profound humanity, aiming to ensure that all people have the right to access medical services without worrying about costs. Achieving this will be a big step forward in the country's social security work.

"The General Secretary has given very clear instructions on the roadmap, first of all, prioritizing vulnerable groups such as the poor, people with meritorious services, children, the elderly... After that, we will move towards the goal of regular health check-ups and free hospital fees for all people, possibly in the period of 2030 - 2035, in which regular health check-ups at least once a year can be implemented from 2026," Mr. Co said, and believes that to achieve this goal, it is necessary to have the coordination of functional agencies, the health sector and especially the whole society must participate, not just the health sector.

3 financial resources

With 30 years of experience as a doctor and a lot of management experience, and currently the head of a leading hospital, Mr. Co said: "To achieve this big goal, financial resources are the key factor. In my opinion, there are three main sources: health insurance, state budget and socialization."

In particular, regarding the role of health insurance, it is necessary to develop universal health insurance, comprehensive and diversified forms of insurance. Regarding the state budget, the state needs financial resources to invest, especially in remote, isolated, disadvantaged areas and in specialized healthcare.

Health insurance is one of the financial resources for free medical examination and treatment for people.

PHOTO: LIEN CHAU

Regarding socialized resources, there needs to be a strategy to mobilize from businesses, philanthropists, and social funds. In developed countries, many non-profit hospitals operate effectively thanks to capital from socialization and from businesses investing in social security funds. The State needs to have a mechanism to strongly mobilize these resources to participate in people's health care.

"If we do a good job of mobilizing from all three of these sources, along with the current economic growth rate and the determination of the whole society, I believe that the goal of free hospital care by 2030 - 2035 is completely feasible," said Mr. Co.

Free medical examination and treatment route of Bach Mai Hospital

As the director of the country's leading specialized general hospital, Mr. Co shared about the hospital's orientations and roadmap for implementing the policy of free medical examination and treatment for people, with 3 key tasks.

In which, receiving, emergency and treating severe patients, difficult patients, patients with rare diseases. This is the last line, we cannot refuse any case in this group. Must take on the most complicated cases.

According to Mr. Co, the Bach Mai Hospital's Center for High-Quality Medical Human Resources Training is currently conducting both basic and advanced training, and transferring techniques to lower-level medical facilities. The Center for Advanced Medical Research, including applied research, applies world advances, and must also invent and find new diagnostic and treatment methods and new drugs.

These are extremely important tasks, and also the future strategy of Bach Mai Hospital, to be worthy of its position as a special specialized international general hospital.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/3-giai-phap-tai-chinh-de-mien-vien-phi-cho-nguoi-dan-185250516093350168.htm