The policy is still cautious and not enough to create a breakthrough in the health sector.

Many opinions say that the solutions proposed in the draft resolution are still somewhat reserved and not strong enough to create the expected breakthrough changes.

Delegate Pham Khanh Phong Lan (HCMC) spoke on the morning of November 17. Photo: QUANG PHUC

On the morning of November 17, discussing at the National Assembly delegation of Ho Chi Minh City, giving comments to complete the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on mechanisms and policies to effectively implement Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions, strengthening the protection, care and improvement of people's health, Deputy Pham Khanh Phong Lan said that the proposed solutions are still somewhat reserved, not strong enough to create the expected breakthrough changes.

Besides, in terms of legislative techniques, issues that can be codified should be codified instead of just being regulated in resolutions, because auditing or investigation agencies in the future often only rely on the law.

Regarding salary and allowance policies, Deputy Pham Khanh Phong Lan said that the proposal to increase the starting salary of doctors, pharmacists and preventive physicians to level 2 is too modest. Level 2 is about 0.3 or 0.4 higher than level 1 and only saves 3 years of work, which is not practical.

“A truly worthy investment in medical staff will make a difference and attract talent, especially important for newly graduated doctors, pharmacists and medical staff,” said Deputy Pham Khanh Phong Lan.

However, according to Deputy Pham Khanh Phong Lan, it is necessary to consider adjusting the basic salary coefficient because it will cause difficulties for public service units, medical facilities, and autonomous hospitals, because they do not know where to balance the resources while hospital fees are not allowed to increase... The Deputy also expressed concern that only adding special allowances for some departments (such as tuberculosis, emergency resuscitation...) may cause concerns for another department, while all employees contribute to the common work...

Regarding the autonomy and financial mechanism, Deputy Pham Khanh Phong Lan said that public health facilities need to have the right to pay high salaries (based on the hospital's capacity and revenue) to attract talent. They also need to have the right to recruit and fire talent more freely; and to allocate profits more flexibly. Currently, these profits are "rigidly" allocated to funds (career development fund, welfare fund, salary reform fund), making their use inflexible.

The delegation of the National Assembly of Ho Chi Minh City discussed in groups on the morning of November 17. Photo: QUANG PHUC

Also agreeing with the resolution, Deputy Nguyen Quoc Hung (Ninh Binh) frankly said that many targets set out in the draft resolution are difficult to implement and not feasible. For example, from 2026, people will be able to have regular health check-ups or free screening at least once a year according to priority groups and roadmaps, "which is very difficult to implement". Therefore, the Deputy said that the resolution should only be at the level of "looking forward and striving".

Regarding the mechanism to attract and retain doctors to work at the grassroots level, according to Deputy Nguyen Quoc Hung, it is currently very difficult. The policy mechanism proposed in the draft is quite basic, but still needs further research, especially with regard to attracting and retaining doctors to work in border areas, islands, and difficult areas.

Delegate Le Hoang Hai (Dong Nai) is interested in the regulations to expand health care benefits and reduce medical costs for people. The delegate believes that it is necessary to redesign in the direction of only introducing regulations that demonstrate breakthroughs, instead of setting tasks associated with timelines for implementing breakthrough policy mechanisms such as "from 2026", "until 2030", "from 2027"...

According to the delegate, at this session, the Government also submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval the Resolution approving the investment policy of the National Target Program on health care, population and development for the period 2026-2035. Thus, if comparing the two resolutions, the implementation time of the Resolution approving the investment policy of the National Target Program is longer (2035).

Therefore, the resolution on a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the protection, care and improvement of people's health should only stipulate the framework of mechanisms and policies. As for details and timelines, it should be transferred to the Resolution approving the investment policy of the National Target Program on health care, population and development for the period 2026-2035...

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi). Photo: DO TRUNG

With many years of experience working in the health sector, Deputy Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi) emphasized the breakthrough in expanding health care benefits and reducing medical costs for people. The Deputy suggested that this "breakthrough" content in the draft must somehow connect health insurance with the support of the State in the coming time so that people can truly receive "free" medical examination and treatment.

Emphasizing the importance of health insurance over the past 30 years in supporting people's medical examination and treatment, Deputy Nguyen Anh Tri said that current health insurance is like a "barrier" to limit people from going to higher-level medical facilities for examination and treatment.

“The barrier was appropriate at that time, but is no longer suitable now. Therefore, I hope that this barrier will not be used to prevent or limit patients from lower levels going to higher levels, but instead use science and technology and the qualifications of medical staff to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment at all levels, especially at the grassroots level. At that time, the load on the upper levels will be naturally reduced,” said Deputy Nguyen Anh Tri.

ANH PHUONG - PHAN THAO - DO TRUNG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/chinh-sach-van-con-de-dat-chua-du-tao-chuyen-bien-dot-pha-trong-linh-vuc-y-te-post823870.html