Management story: Two 'trillion-dollar' hospital projects exposed to the sun in Ho Chi Minh City

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City received two large-scale medical projects including the 1,500-bed Binh Duong General Hospital and the 300-bed Binh Duong Psychiatric Hospital. However, although most of the items have been completed, both hospitals have not yet been put into use, many areas are degraded, overgrown with grass, causing budget waste and affecting people's need for medical examination and treatment.

Binh Duong General Hospital new facility has a scale of 1,500 beds.

Binh Duong General Hospital is currently considered the largest hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with an area of ​​16 hectares and a capacity of 1,500 beds. Construction began in 2014, with a total investment of more than VND 4,500 billion, to provide specialized examination, diagnosis and treatment services for people in the area and neighboring areas.

The project includes 7 component projects, in which the Binh Duong Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board is the investor of 6 projects; the Binh Duong Provincial Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board is the investor of 1 project. However, after more than 10 years of construction, the project has not been completed synchronously to put into use. Reporters' records show that many items are still being constructed in small batches, the surrounding area is overgrown with grass even though the main building has been topped out for a long time.

Grass grows wildly at the new facility of Binh Duong General Hospital.

Meanwhile, at the existing 500-bed Binh Duong General Hospital, the infrastructure has deteriorated, the overload situation has been prolonged, affecting the quality of medical examination and treatment. Patients and medical staff both expect the 1,500-bed hospital project to be operational soon to reduce pressure on the health system.

Ms. Duong Phuong Huyen (Phu Loi Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) said that her family often takes relatives to the existing Binh Duong General Hospital for treatment. The old facilities and large number of patients make the waiting time longer. According to Ms. Huyen, the delay in putting the new hospital into operation causes difficulties for people, especially the elderly and those living far from the center.

The new facility of Binh Duong General Hospital is basically completed, however grass is growing wildly outside.

Mr. Le Giang Nam (Thu Dau Mot Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) shared that he often jogs around the hospital construction area. The hospital is very beautiful and large, and if completed, it will be a modern hospital. However, currently, the items are still left empty. Local people hope that the project will be resolved to avoid waste and help reduce the burden on city-level hospitals.

Director of Binh Duong Construction Investment Project Management Board Nguyen Ngoc Van informed that the 1,500-bed General Hospital Cluster has 7 component projects, but only 2 projects have been basically completed, 3 projects are under construction and 2 projects have not been implemented. For the 2 basically completed projects including the wastewater treatment plant and the overall technical infrastructure, the project has not been put into use yet because it has not been synchronously connected with the remaining items.

Binh Duong General Hospital after 10 years of construction still cannot operate.

For the 3 projects under construction, the foundation construction has been completed 100%; the installation of technical systems has reached 79%; and the medical gas equipment has reached 50%. The central technical block and funeral home project alone has reached 32% progress, expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026; the parking lot, park, trees and wastewater treatment plant fence project has reached 46.4%.

There are 2 projects that have not been constructed yet, including: hospital equipment, interior and information technology project for 1,500-bed general hospital; education - training project, dormitory for students and relatives of patients whose projects have been approved. The Board will deploy the work for the project implementation phase from 2026-2029. It is expected that the 2 interior and information technology projects will start construction in December 2025.

Many items and works of the new Binh Duong General Hospital have become old over time.

The Board has submitted the project implementation time adjustment to the Department of Construction (1,500-bed general hospital) and the Department of Finance (interior and information technology projects); the Board has submitted the project adjustment to the Central Technical Block and Funeral Home project to the Department of Construction for appraisal and approval. After the project adjustment is approved, the Board will organize the selection of contractors for the packages in the first quarter of 2026. Currently, the project site is under construction, so the general cleaning has not been carried out. The Board will complete the construction and general cleaning of the project before accepting it for use.

At Binh Duong Psychiatric Hospital (Binh Duong Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), reporters noted that the project was completed in 2018 with a scale of about 300 beds and functional areas but is currently abandoned, many items are degraded, and trees are growing thickly. The hospital was requisitioned as a COVID-19 quarantine and treatment area until the end of 2021, then continued to be unused. Before the merger, the authorities of the old Binh Duong province had surveyed and proposed exploitation plans many times but had not been able to implement them.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that while waiting for the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council to approve the renovation policy, the Department of Health proposed the City People's Committee to approve the assignment of the Mental Hospital as the 4th facility of the Ho Chi Minh City Mental Hospital and to urgently repair the facilities. At the same time, the Binh Duong Construction Investment Project Management Board accelerated the progress, putting the 1,500-bed Binh Duong General Hospital into operation in 2026 to meet the medical examination and treatment needs of people in the area.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/chuyen-quan-ly-hai-cong-trinh-benh-vien-nghin-ty-phoi-nang-o-tp-ho-chi-minh-20251110180944354.htm