High coverage
Specialist Doctor II Trinh Ngoc Hiep - Deputy Director of the Department of Health said that in the past 5 years, the system of examination and treatment using traditional medicine in public health facilities in the province has been consolidated and expanded. Specifically, the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation, with an initial scale of 170 beds, has now been increased to 270 beds; all provincial general hospitals and 3 district general hospitals have traditional medicine departments; the remaining 4 district general hospitals have traditional medicine teams; more than 89% of commune, ward and town health stations have examination and treatment using traditional medicine; 82.5% of commune, ward and town health stations have model herbal medicine gardens. In addition, the whole province currently has 178 non-public traditional medicine clinics, all of which are licensed to operate and have practice certificates according to regulations.
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| Consulting and examining patients at the Department of Traditional Medicine, Provincial General Hospital. |
At the same time, the research and conservation of medicinal resources are also focused on by the provincial health sector. In the province, there are currently 4 units and facilities cultivating medicinal herbs: Dan Loi Oriental Medicine Company Limited; Lien Son Medicinal Herb Farm Joint Stock Company; Van Huong Company; Thien Nam Company. Oriental Medicine Associations at all levels regularly organize activities to replicate valuable remedies and folk experiences in traditional medicine treatment. Up to now, more than 400 good remedies have been preserved and promoted.
To ensure the protection, care and improvement of people's health, the provincial health sector aims to continue to comprehensively develop traditional medicine. Accordingly, by 2030, 95% of general hospitals and specialized hospitals will have traditional medicine departments; 100% of commune, ward and town health stations and equivalents will implement traditional medicine consultation, health care, medical examination and treatment activities. At the same time, the rate of traditional medicine examination and treatment at the provincial level will reach 25%, at the district level will reach 30% and at the commune level will reach 40%; the rate of payment for herbal medicines and traditional medicines in medical examination and treatment facilities from the health insurance fund in the total cost of medicine will reach 30%, of which the cost of using locally available medicinal herbs in treatment will be at least 5%...
Along with that, the examination and treatment of diseases using traditional medicine is increasing. Accordingly, the total number of examinations and inpatient treatments using traditional medicine at provincial facilities increased from 133,000 (in 2019) to more than 202,200 (in 2024); at district level from 29,110 to 46,760; at commune level from 201,000 to nearly 320,000. Specifically, in 2024, the rate of outpatient treatment using traditional medicine at provincial level accounted for 18% of the total number of outpatient treatments, the rate of inpatient treatment accounted for 4.3%; at district level: outpatient treatment accounted for 23.4%, inpatient treatment 6.6%; at commune level: outpatient treatment accounted for 24%. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, there were nearly 156,000 inpatient examinations and treatments using traditional medicine at all levels. Ms. Dao Thi Dinh (58 years old, Nha Trang City) said that she had suffered from hemorrhoids for nearly 5 years, and had many difficulties in daily life, so she went to the Traditional Medicine Department, Provincial General Hospital for examination. Here, she was diagnosed with grade 3 internal hemorrhoids and was prescribed treatment by sclerotherapy (a combination of traditional and modern medicine). After 4 sclerotherapy injections, the hemorrhoids gradually shrank and then completely disappeared. She was very surprised because traditional medicine has now developed, has good and painless treatment methods.
Still having trouble
According to Dr. Ho Ngoc Gia - Director of Dien Khanh District Medical Center, the center's hospital has established a Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation Team located in the Examination Department. Services provided at the team include: decoction of medicine, prescription of traditional medicine, electroacupuncture, acupuncture, hydroacupuncture, acupressure massage, thread implantation. The center's traditional medicine staff accounts for 1.58% of the total staff. The rate of medical examination using traditional medicine, combining traditional medicine and modern medicine out of the total number of medical examinations and treatments at the district level accounts for 33.72% (an increase of 10.88% compared to 2019); at the commune level it is 58.04% (an increase of 16%). However, due to lack of human resources, the hospital does not have a traditional medicine department; the health station does not have a medical practitioner or pharmacist; no commune has met the "Criteria for identifying advanced communes in Traditional Medicine".
Not only Dien Khanh District Medical Center, many public medical facilities also face difficulties in developing traditional medicine. Accordingly, the traditional medicine department and team at medical facilities have not been able to develop traditional medicine in the locality; some medical centers and provincial hospitals do not have enough traditional medicine staff to develop; the procurement of traditional medicine and medicinal herbs is difficult because there are no contractors participating; at medical stations, medicinal herb gardens are built but the scale is only to serve as a model for people to easily recognize and introduce the uses of each type of plant, not enough for treatment...
To develop and achieve the targets of traditional medicine by 2030, the health sector recommends that the Government and the Prime Minister increase the investment budget for traditional medicine development, support domestic enterprises to improve the capacity to produce medicinal herbs and traditional medicine to meet GACP and GMP-WHO standards. The Ministry of Health promotes human resource training for the traditional medicine sector and improves the quality of traditional medicine bidding; Vietnam Social Security studies simplification in payment and timely payment for medical examination and treatment facilities.
C.DAN
Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/xa-hoi/y-te-suc-khoe/202505/day-manh-phat-trien-y-duocco-truyen-a92532f/
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