Need to change health care allowances to meet current needs

The current regime of permanent allowances, epidemic prevention allowances and surgical procedure allowances has been issued since 2011 until now, after 13 years of implementation, it has not been amended or adjusted while the basic salary has increased 8 times.

The Ministry of Justice has just announced the appraisal dossier of the draft decree stipulating a number of special allowance regimes for civil servants, public employees, workers and armed forces in public health facilities, anti-epidemic allowance regime; support regime for medical staff in villages, residential groups and midwives in villages and hamlets .

The allowance level of medical workers for 13 years has remained unchanged, while the basic salary has increased 8 times.

The draft was developed by the Ministry of Health and previously received public comments from people, ministries, departments, branches, and social organizations on the Ministry of Health's Electronic Information Portal.

According to the Ministry of Health, although the current regular allowance, epidemic prevention allowance and surgical procedure allowance regime were issued since 2011 with the allowance level being quite high compared to the basic salary at that time.

However, up to now, after 13 years of implementation, there has been no amendment or adjustment while the basic salary has increased 8 times with the value doubling from 830,000 VND to 2,340,000 VND.

Current regulations on the scope of regulation, beneficiaries and allowance levels have revealed many shortcomings. For example, the name of the permanent allowance is no longer consistent with the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment; the names of some organizations receiving allowances have changed in other documents; some beneficiaries have not been updated...

In particular, the allowances in specific amounts have been devalued after 13 years without adjustment. Therefore, these allowances need to be studied, revised and supplemented to suit the reality.

The Ministry of Health believes that the issuance of a Decree regulating a number of special allowance regimes for civil servants, public employees, and workers in public health facilities, anti-epidemic allowance regimes; support regimes for medical staff in villages, residential groups, and midwives in villages and hamlets at present is necessary.

That is the basis for localities and public health facilities to issue regulations and implement a number of special allowance regimes for civil servants, public employees, and workers in public health facilities, anti-epidemic allowance regimes, and support regimes for medical staff in villages and residential groups; and midwives in villages and hamlets to ensure the stable maintenance of human resources to perform the task of taking care of people's health.

Instead of being fixed, the new allowance will be calculated as a percentage of the basic salary.

The first change according to the Ministry of Health's proposal is to change "permanent allowance" to "on-call allowance", updated according to the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023. This is not only to adjust the terminology but also to expand the shift arrangement, flexible according to the type of unit. Workers in the resuscitation, emergency, anesthesia, neonatal, psychiatric departments... are entitled to allowances appropriate to the specific nature of their 24/7 work.

At the same time, surgical and procedural allowances were revised in a more comprehensive manner. Not only doctors, but also technicians, nurses, midwives, and surgical support staff are eligible.

The Ministry of Health plans to calculate allowances as a percentage of the basic salary, instead of the old fixed level, to ensure they are commensurate with the job and professional qualifications.

Accordingly, each shift, surgery or anti-epidemic day will be calculated from 5-20% of the basic salary, equivalent to 117,000-468,000 VND depending on the type and working conditions. The new calculation method helps the allowance increase accordingly when the basic salary is adjusted, while accurately reflecting the actual labor intensity.

Notably, the anti-epidemic allowance has been upgraded to a permanent mechanism. Instead of only applying when there is a major epidemic, the draft extends it to activities to prevent and combat epidemics, poisoning, medical disasters and public emergencies. Steering committee members, drivers, media or logistics staff, if directly involved, will also receive allowances, accommodation support and labor protection.

Proposal to increase support level for primary health care

Another notable highlight of this draft Decree is the conversion of "village and hamlet health worker allowance" into "monthly support regime" and the expansion of its application to health workers in residential groups in wards and towns.

Currently, according to Decision 75/2009/QD-TTg, the allowance is only 300,000-500,000 VND/month, depending on the locality, and is paid from the local budget.

The Ministry of Health proposed a sharp increase in support for primary health care.

The latest draft increases the support level to 0.6 to 1.0 times the basic salary, or about 1.4-2.3 million VND/month when calculated according to the new basic salary of 2.34 million VND applied from July 1, 2024. For village midwives - the force specializing in maternal and child health care in remote areas, the support level can be up to 1.2 times the basic salary, or nearly 2.8 million VND/month.

According to the Ministry of Health, the new support level is expected to increase 1.5-2 times compared to the current level (currently at 400,000-500,000 VND/month), to help them maintain their lives and feel secure in their work.

The draft Decree also adds many new groups of subjects: officers, soldiers, police, defense workers working in medical facilities of the armed forces; forensic and forensic psychiatric organizations; public social assistance facilities caring for the sick, wounded and sick soldiers. These are forces performing public health tasks but have not received special allowances for many years.

All allowances and supports are calculated based on the new basic salary of VND 2.34 million/month, according to Decree 73/2024/ND-CP. The adjustment helps synchronize salary policy, ensuring that public employees' income is not reduced when implementing reforms according to Resolution 27-NQ/TW and Conclusion 83-KL/TW of the Politburo.

The issue of adjusting and increasing the allowances for medical workers has been repeatedly raised and recommended by voters. Most recently, voters in Lao Cai and Thanh Hoa provinces have also proposed increasing the on-duty allowances for medical staff to suit current conditions.

Responding to voters, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that implementing Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health; at the same time implementing Decision No. 150/QD-TTg dated January 16, 2025 of the Prime Minister promulgating the 2025 Work Program, the Ministry of Health is completing a draft Decree stipulating a number of special allowance regimes for civil servants, public employees, workers and armed forces in public health facilities.

This Decree also stipulates the anti-epidemic allowance regime, support regime for medical staff in villages, residential groups and midwives in villages and hamlets, expected to be submitted to the Government in the fourth quarter of 2025.

According to Minister Dao Hong Lan, in the draft, the Ministry of Health proposed adjusting the levels of on-duty allowances, surgery and procedure allowances, epidemic prevention allowances and meal allowances in the direction of inheriting Decision No. 73/2011/QD-TTg but updating on the basis of the new basic salary level.

The Ministry of Health has calculated the corresponding adjustment levels, ensuring they are consistent with reality and contributing to motivating and encouraging grassroots medical staff to work with peace of mind.

suckhoedoisong.vn

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/can-thay-doi-che-do-phu-cap-y-te-de-dap-ung-nhu-cau-hien-nay-post883966.html