Disease Prevention Law Project: Ensuring people's right to regular health check-ups

Next week, the National Assembly will discuss the draft Law on Disease Prevention in the hall. Previously, in the group discussion session on this draft Law, regarding the State's policy on disease prevention, National Assembly deputies proposed that it should be clearly stipulated: The State must ensure the right to periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year and organize the establishment of electronic health management records for the entire population.

Shift focus to proactive disease prevention

After more than 17 years of implementation, the 2007 Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases has made an important contribution to controlling and preventing epidemics and protecting people's health. However, in practice, many new problems have arisen, such as: the burden of non-communicable diseases, mental health disorders, malnutrition, environmental pollution and changes in health behavior... On the other hand, the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases mainly regulates the prevention and control of infectious diseases, and has not covered new risk factors of non-communicable diseases and mental health.

Based on the above reality, in the discussion at the Group, the delegates agreed with the necessity of the Law on Disease Prevention to overcome the limitations and shortcomings of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases; perfect the legal basis for disease prevention, aiming to improve the physical and mental health, stature and longevity of Vietnamese people through effective control of diseases and risk factors. The draft Law provides comprehensive regulations on prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases, nutrition, mental health, public health management and decentralization of disease prevention responsibilities to local authorities.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Duy Minh ( Da Nang City) speaks. Photo: Pham Thang

National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Duy Minh (Da Nang City) observed that although the draft Law has institutionalized many contents of Resolution 72-NQ/TW of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health, it has not yet fully institutionalized the policies in Resolution 72. For example, regarding the shift in focus from treatment to proactive disease prevention, Resolution 72-NQ/TW requires "people to be examined, have periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year and have an electronic health record created to manage health over the life cycle". However, the draft Law has not yet stipulated this right and has not yet identified "electronic health records" as a mandatory management tool.

Delegate Nguyen Duy Minh also pointed out the fact that in many localities such as Nghe An or Hai Duong, the model of periodic health examinations had been implemented but could not be maintained due to lack of legal basis and budget resources to implement. Therefore, the delegate proposed to add a clause in Article 3 of the draft Law in the direction of "The State must ensure the right to periodic health examinations or free screening at least once a year and organize the establishment of electronic health records for the entire population". Along with that, amend Clause 2, Article 4 of the draft Law in the direction of "disease prevention work must be carried out regularly and continuously, strongly shifting from the mindset of focusing on medical examination and treatment to proactive disease prevention and comprehensive health care for the people".

Regarding the content of non-communicable disease prevention and control, delegate Nguyen Duy Minh said that the provisions in Article 27 and Article 29 of the draft Law are still general, not clear about the financial mechanism for screening and management of this chronic disease. In fact, in Thai Binh, a chronic disease screening program such as hypertension screening was previously implemented in 100% of communes but had to stop because health insurance did not pay for it due to lack of legal regulations, making it impossible to implement.

Resolution 72-NQ/TW clearly stated "strengthening the prevention of non-communicable diseases, managing people's health at grassroots health facilities, ensuring that the health insurance fund covers screening and management of chronic diseases". Therefore, delegate Nguyen Duy Minh proposed to amend Clause 2, Article 29 of the draft Law in the direction that "people at high risk of non-communicable diseases are screened, detected early, given preventive treatment and regular health management at grassroots health facilities". At the same time, adding Clause 4 in Article 29 of the draft Law stating that "the cost of screening and management of chronic diseases is paid from the Health Insurance Fund, according to the guidance of the Ministry of Health".

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Hoang Uyen (Tay Ninh) speaks

In recent times, many infectious diseases have appeared that are very complicated and unusual with extremely fast spreading speed, especially diseases that can break out across borders such as Covid-19, dengue fever and influenza strains... Stating this reality, National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Hoang Uyen (Tay Ninh) also emphasized that if we do not strengthen the assessment, analysis of epidemiological data and early and remote risk forecasting, the work of disease prevention and control will fall into a passive position, slow response, causing great economic and health damage to the community.

Therefore, delegate Nguyen Hoang Uyen proposed that the Drafting Committee adjust and supplement the provisions in Clause 5, Article 5 of the draft Law in the direction of "organizing research and development of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation in disease prevention"; adding in Article 5 of the draft Law the task of "assessing, analyzing and forecasting the risks of epidemics".

Pay more attention to investing in primary health care

Also interested in the State's policies on disease prevention, National Assembly Deputy Au Thi Mai (Tuyen Quang) suggested that the drafting agency study and supplement a number of State policies on disease prevention, especially investment policies for grassroots preventive medicine such as: socialization policies in disease prevention activities, policies to strengthen disease prevention education in schools and communities, policies to develop monitoring systems, disease warning data to contribute to proactively responding to emerging diseases, minimizing risks to public health.

National Assembly Delegate Au Thi Mai (Tuyen Quang) speaks at the group. Photo: Pham Thang

Agreeing with the above opinion, National Assembly Delegate Doan Thi Le An (Cao Bang) also suggested that the draft Law should supplement policies on investment in grassroots preventive medicine, ensuring facilities, human resources, and information technology to detect and monitor epidemics early. According to the delegate, priority policies for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and people in difficult areas should be separated into a separate section to emphasize the State's responsibility in ensuring disease prevention work.

National Assembly Delegate Doan Thi Le An (Cao Bang) speaks at the group. Photo: Pham Thang

Resolution 72-NQ/TW emphasizes “a breakthrough in health human resources policy, especially in primary and preventive health, with preferential treatment mechanisms, attracting and re-using health workers in disadvantaged areas”. However, the draft Law has not mentioned much about the policy on preventive health human resources; it mainly deals with the issue of professional training, with few policies to make health workers feel secure in their work. Therefore, delegates also suggested that it is necessary to pay attention to the grassroots health staff, with preferential recruitment and rotation policies, support for public housing and special allowances for preventive health workers working long-term at the grassroots level, especially in disadvantaged areas.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/du-an-luat-phong-benh-bao-dam-quyen-cua-nguoi-dan-duoc-kham-suc-khoe-dinh-ky-10394028.html