Delegates propose early exemption of hospital fees for cancer and chronic disease treatment

There is still a lot of room for private healthcare development.

On December 2, continuing the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly , the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the work of protecting, caring for and improving people's health; investment policy for the National Target Program on health care, population and development for the period 2026 - 2035.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri - Hanoi delegation.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri - Hanoi delegation.

Referring to the Draft Resolution on a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the protection, care and improvement of people's health, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri - Hanoi delegation said that free hospital fees are a good condition to create a breakthrough in medical examination and treatment.

Therefore, the entire Article 2 must reflect this spirit. At the same time, it is necessary to clarify the following contents: improving the quality of medical examination and treatment with good medicine, standard and updated diagnosis and treatment regimens...

According to delegate Nguyen Anh Tri, it is necessary to proactively examine and treat patients at the nearest and most convenient place; to implement a real connection, without dependence, to eliminate the ceiling on health insurance payments; to be equal in benefits; to organize a 3-level specialized health system like the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment. In which, the basic level of medical examination and treatment is arranged closest to the people, with enough medicine. All people, depending on the level of illness, receive the same benefits.

“Hospital fee exemption needs to have a reasonable roadmap, by 2030 it will be free for all people. It is recommended to implement early exemption for those who are being treated for cancer, difficult to cure, chronic diseases” - delegate Nguyen Anh Tri suggested.

In addition, it is necessary to promote the development of private healthcare in the direction of mobilizing social resources to participate in people's healthcare; invest in and develop medical examination and treatment facilities, diagnostic centers, testing centers, imaging and functional examination centers, and provide high-quality healthcare services...

Create all conditions for the private health system to gradually become an important driving force, protecting and taking care of people's health . Strive for the private health system to provide about 30% by 2030, and 45% by 2045, of medical examination and treatment services nationwide.

Explaining the proposal to include private healthcare in the National Assembly's resolution, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri analyzed that the Party's resolutions all emphasize the private economy as a driving force, and in Resolution 68 of the Politburo, the private economy is the most important driving force.

In fact, over the past 30 years, private healthcare has grown. Vietnam has many large, modern, and synchronized private hospitals with from several hundred to thousands of beds. There are testing centers that meet international standards and can connect globally... contributing significantly to the protection of people's health. Private healthcare has become a driving force in the general healthcare system of Vietnam.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri informed that Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW sets the rate of private hospital beds to reach 10% by 2025. By 2030, the rate of private hospital beds will reach 15%. But in reality, the number of private hospital beds is only about 7%, not reaching the rate according to Resolution 20 of the Central Committee.

The private health system is providing about 14.55% of medical examination and treatment services nationwide, which is still low. Meanwhile, in some countries in the world, Germany: 25%, France: 35%, Australia: 40%, the United States: 80%, Japan: 80%... From that reality, it shows that the room for private health care development is still very large.

Delegate Duong Khac Mai - Lam Dong delegation.

Delegate Duong Khac Mai - Lam Dong delegation.

Developing elderly care facilities

Speaking at the meeting, delegate Duong Khac Mai - Lam Dong delegation expressed his agreement with the policy of paying 100% of medical examination and treatment costs for the elderly aged 75 and over, people from near-poor households and social welfare beneficiaries. At the same time, he suggested: "It is necessary to lower this age to 70 years old to better suit the health situation of Vietnamese people, when healthy life expectancy is only 68 years old".

According to delegate Duong Khac Mai, taking care of the health of the elderly is a social security policy and an investment for sustainable development, because the elderly are the force that has devoted their whole life to their family and society. Ensuring that they are properly cared for demonstrates the morality and responsibility of the State.

Besides the 100% health insurance policy, delegates also analyzed in depth the pilot policy of diversifying supplementary health insurance packages.

Agreeing that controlled socialization is necessary, delegate Duong Khac Mai emphasized the principle: "All people must be guaranteed maximum basic health care from compulsory health insurance" . Supplementary insurance is only for improvement purposes, and absolutely must not lead to a stratification of health services according to ability to pay, causing injustice in access to health care services.

Commenting on the content of responding to population aging, delegate Nguyen Van Manh - Phu Tho delegation emphasized that Resolution 72 required each province and centrally-run city to have at least one hospital or geriatric department to meet the increasing medical examination and treatment needs of the elderly.

However, according to observations and research, this content has not been specified by the Ministry of Health in the National Target Program 2026 - 2035. Sub-projects to improve population quality and adapt to population aging have all identified tasks, but there is no specific capital allocation for the development of geriatrics; this contradicts the spirit of Resolution 72 and the Health Facility Network Planning to 2030, with a vision to 2050.

From that reality, delegate Nguyen Van Manh suggested that the Government should rebalance the capital sources in the program, ensure investment capital for the construction of geriatric hospitals, develop elderly care facilities, and upgrade geriatric departments at provincial general hospitals. In case of insufficient funding, it is necessary to pilot in some provinces to create a model before expanding. In addition, it is necessary to supplement goals and solutions to strongly attract social resources, issue incentive mechanisms, and ensure investment so that private enterprises can confidently participate in investment.

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