Ben Tre: How are two hospital projects with a total investment of more than 3,900 billion VND currently?

Recently, the medical examination and treatment situation of people in Ben Tre province has encountered difficulties because Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital (the province's general hospital) is often overloaded. Therefore, many voters and people in Ben Tre province are interested in the implementation of two hospital projects with investment capital of thousands of billions of VND that were approved many years ago: Ben Tre General Hospital and Pacific Healthcare Hospital (Ben Tre General Hospital - Facility 2).

Why is the Ben Tre General Hospital project behind schedule?

Ben Tre province leaders explain the reason why the hospital project worth over 1,600 billion VND is behind schedule — *Ben Tre Provincial People's Committee Headquarters*

The Ben Tre Provincial General Hospital Project (Binh Phu Commune, Ben Tre City) was approved by the Ben Tre Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 1594/QD-UBND dated August 18, 2015, with a total investment of VND 1,658 billion.

The project implementation cost is funded by the Korean Government in the form of preferential credit loans to support development of VND 1,331 billion and counterpart capital of VND 326 billion.

The project owner is the People's Committee of Ben Tre province; the unit assigned to represent the project owner is the Management Board of Investment and Construction Projects of Civil and Industrial Works of Ben Tre province; the user unit is Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital.

The project aims to build and put into operation a 500-bed general hospital with modern medical equipment, contributing to reducing the overload at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital, ensuring that patients receive timely and quality emergency care and medical examination and treatment. At the same time, it creates conditions for the development of technical expertise and skills for the medical staff of Ben Tre province.

However, up to now, after nearly 9 years, the Ben Tre General Hospital project has not yet been implemented. Meanwhile, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital is overloaded.

Speaking with the People's Representative Newspaper , Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ben Tre Province Nguyen Truc Son informed that, before the province's general hospital, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital with a scale of 1,400 beds, showed signs of overload, Ben Tre Province really wanted to quickly implement the 500-bed hospital project to arrange and improve the quality of medical examination and treatment services; invest in medical equipment and instruments suitable for the current medical examination and treatment situation; share with the old hospital...

The Ben Tre General Hospital project is built on an area of about 10 hectares. The province prepared the site very early, completing site clearance 3 years ago; the allocated capital is ready. However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project implementation progress has been delayed.

According to Nguyen Truc Son, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ben Tre Province, the project has a total investment capital of more than VND 1,600 billion, of which the construction and installation cost is about VND 1,000 billion. Because the project is funded by the Korean Government, all procedural documents must seek approval from the Korean side.

To implement the project, it must go through international bidding and the bidding must also be approved. From 2021-2022, Ben Tre province has prepared for bidding; in 2023, bidding was organized but so far there have been no results. The bidding must comply with both the Law on Bidding of Vietnam and the Agreement signed with the donor; the most difficult of which is the rate of goods supplied by the donor country. When participating in the bidding, contractors must also carefully calculate the rate of goods purchased with the donor country.

Currently, the project is only waiting for the completion of international bidding procedures to start construction. It is expected that the bidding procedures will be completed in 2024. The construction period is about 18 months. The project will be completed and put into use in 2026.

Pacific Healthcare Hospital project investor is no longer able to implement

Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ben Tre Province Nguyen Truc Son also informed about the status of the Pacific Healthcare Hospital project invested by Ben Tre General Hospital Joint Stock Company (a member of Pacific Healthcare Group Joint Stock Company).

Pacific Healthcare Hospital project was granted an investment certificate by Ben Tre province in 2019, with an investment capital of about 2,250 billion VND, built on a land area of over 1 hectare, in Son Dong commune, Ben Tre city. The scale of the project includes a basement, 11 floors with 450 hospital beds, and a helipad on the rooftop.

In July 2019, the investor started the project and named it Ben Tre General Hospital - Facility 2. However, the project has since stopped.

Nguyen Truc Son, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ben Tre Province, said: "This is a private hospital project, not a public investment. Ben Tre Province has granted the investment policy and allocated land before the Covid-19 pandemic. The investor also made a move to start the project, but after the pandemic, they were no longer able to invest, so the province withdrew the investment policy. Because a number of projects have been invested in on the land, it is necessary to complete asset liquidation procedures before reclaiming the land."

According to the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ben Tre Province Nguyen Truc Son, in July 2024, Ben Tre Province will organize an investment promotion conference to continue calling for investment in this land. This is a land area planned as medical land, building a hospital, so any investor with the ability to invest will be considered. The land will be auctioned for a 50-year lease.

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