On the morning of July 30, at People's Hospital 115, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health held an urgent meeting with hospital leaders about the problem of "brokers" in medical examinations, to discuss and agree on solutions to prevent the situation that is happening around hospitals.
Reviewing the loopholes of "brokers" taking advantage of patients
Chairing the meeting, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Tang Chi Thuong said that the situation of hospital brokers has tended to recur recently. This is a warning that hospitals need to deal with together because it will affect many aspects such as security and order, service quality and people's trust.
At the meeting, leaders of People's Hospital 115, Gia Dinh People's Hospital, Oncology Hospital, Dermatology Hospital, Eye Hospital, Tu Du Hospital, Hung Vuong Hospital, Children's Hospital 1, Children's Hospital 2, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and Cho Ray Hospital all said that they have not yet discovered any "brokers" colluding with medical staff.
With 4,000 outpatient visits per day, Director of People's Hospital 115 Tran Van Song said that currently the rate of patients registering for examination at home accounts for 25%. About 97% of patients who come for examination have citizen identification cards with integrated medical examination and treatment information.
The situation of street vendors and "brokers" in front of the hospital gate is a difficult problem. In fact, some patients from the province are already at the hospital as early as 2am, while the hospital only opens at 5am, so they are easily taken advantage of by surrounding subjects.
A big challenge is when patients give their ID cards and medical records with their names to strangers to take their numbers. Due to the large number of patients, it is difficult for hospitals to recognize them and refuse them. This situation is considered a loophole for bad guys to exploit.
"They line up like normal patients. Sometimes the hospital recognizes and refuses them, saying it's too difficult to go to the doctor," Mr. Song said, hoping that when the hospital's electronic medical records are deployed, the number of "brokers" will be significantly reduced.
At Hung Vuong Hospital, Ms. Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet said that "brokers" often appear when patients find the examination process difficult and have to wait a long time. Therefore, the registration process at the hospital must be objective and have as little human intervention as possible to prevent "brokers".
"The field of obstetrics and gynecology is quite sensitive. For example, if a patient wants an abortion, if the hospital requires identification documents such as a citizen ID card, sometimes they cannot do it and may seek unsafe "black broker" services outside," Ms. Tuyet gave an example and said that when a patient has come to the hospital and then goes outside for medical treatment, it is the hospital's fault.
6 solutions to prevent medical brokers from having a place to survive
In his speech, the director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health emphasized the key groups of solutions that all public hospitals need to simultaneously implement.
Firstly, promote digital transformation in medical examination and treatment, especially implementing remote appointment booking via app, website or switchboard. This is a fundamental solution to eliminate the operating environment of "brokers", and at the same time is an indicator to evaluate the quality of hospital service.
Second, hospitals need to simplify the admission process, moving towards a “one-step” or “no-step” model for some sensitive diseases such as obstetrics, andrology, and family planning.
Third, improve the capacity to perform and return clinical results within the day, integrate the testing system into the doctor's prescription software so that patients are guided in the sequence, location and specific time.
Fourth, organize medical examinations from early morning to late afternoon continuously, especially for workers and people from far away provinces to help patients complete the medical examination and treatment process in one session, reduce waiting time, reduce crowding and prevent unauthorized access.
Fifth, the Department of Health proposed to closely coordinate with the City Police in deploying a smart camera system capable of identifying people entering and exiting, supporting security monitoring and managing patient flow at hospitals with large examination volumes.
Sixth, in the long term, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector will continue to propose investment in expanding facilities at overloaded and degraded hospitals. At the same time, it will build more facilities at end-line hospitals to reduce pressure, shorten waiting times and improve service quality.
In parallel, hospitals are required to maintain customer care teams, social work departments, volunteers and survey dissatisfied patients to support patients.
According to the director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the fight against "medical brokers" is not only about dealing with the phenomenon, but also about transforming the public medical examination and treatment system towards transparency, with patients at the center.
The Department continues to work with hospitals, authorities and people to build a civilized, fair and safe hospital environment.
The Department highly appreciates the role of press and media agencies in detecting, reflecting and accompanying the health sector in building a transparent medical examination and treatment environment.
Source: https://ttbc-hcm.gov.vn/giam-doc-so-y-te-tp-hcm-quyet-tam-khong-de-co-kham-benh-song-quanh-benh-vien-1019253.html
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