Removing difficulties and creating momentum for commune health stations

Currently, commune and ward health stations not only take on the role of providing primary health care for people but are also assigned many new important tasks such as managing and treating chronic diseases, substance addiction, and HIV/AIDS according to regulations.

However, the expansion of functions while the organization and human resources have not been adjusted in time is causing many medical stations to face many difficulties.

Currently, Hanoi has 126 commune and ward health stations under the People's Committees at the commune level, while maintaining health stations at old stations to facilitate people when they need medical examination and treatment.

Currently, Tay Ho Ward Health Station receives about 5,000 - 6,000 medical examinations per month, an increase of 150% compared to 2023. In addition to health insurance examination and treatment, the station also takes on many other tasks, such as the Methadone clinic that can examine 330 to 350 patients per day; manage 800 to 1,000 tuberculosis, HIV and mental patients per month...

To meet the need for on-site examination, the station connects with upper-level hospitals such as Hanoi Heart Hospital, Xanh Pon General Hospital, Dong Da Hospital for remote consultation, and at the same time deploys special support programs.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Health, said that the health insurance examination and treatment system from the city to the communes and wards is still maintained stably, along with specific instructions on referral work.

People can manage their health, receive medical examination and treatment, and enjoy health insurance benefits at health stations and polyclinics as before, without any interruption in the process of receiving medical services.

With the increasing workload, health stations need to be trained and familiarized with new tasks and management methods.

The commune health station is the first public service unit nationwide organized under the new model, but the Ministry of Health 's guiding circular on functions and tasks is still in the process of being revised and has not been officially issued.

"The Hanoi People's Committee has issued a document temporarily regulating the functions and tasks of the medical station, but due to its temporary nature, there are no specific instructions on the organizational model such as the establishment of specialized departments and offices under the station, leading to many difficulties in actual operations," Mr. Hung shared.

To overcome this difficulty, the Hanoi Department of Health is actively improving the capacity of grassroots health workers through training and digital transformation. At the same time, upper-level hospitals will send doctors to support and deploy remote medical examination and treatment, helping people access better quality medical services.

“When the hospital supports the medical station in remote consultation, health insurance payment is also more convenient. For example, the patient is transferred to the hospital for testing and imaging, the results will be returned to the medical station for further treatment,” Mr. Hung emphasized.

In the near future, leading hospitals will coordinate to develop specialized training programs for grassroots medical staff on common diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. This is considered a practical solution to improve the quality of health care right from the front line.

In addition to the primary health care task, health stations also take on the role of managing and treating chronic diseases, substance addiction, and HIV/AIDS according to regulations. Health stations are under the comprehensive management of the People's Committee at the commune level and professional management from the Hanoi Department of Health.

In addition, the delay in issuing a circular guiding the new functions and tasks of health stations also raises concerns about the supply of vaccines and medicines in the coming time.

Faced with these difficulties, the Hanoi Department of Health is implementing solutions to improve the capacity of grassroots health workers, promote digital transformation and direct local hospitals to send doctors to support medical stations in examining and treating patients, and at the same time deploy remote medical examination and treatment.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung said that when the hospital supports the medical station in remote examination, treatment and consultation, health insurance payment for people will be much more convenient. For example, if a patient comes to the primary health care facility and wants to do a test or X-ray but the health station does not have it, he can transfer to the nearest hospital to perform the service and the results will be returned to the primary health care facility by the hospital.

In the coming time, the Department of Health will train grassroots doctors and assign leading experts to develop training programs and online training, focusing on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. We will assign leading hospitals to carry out, Mr. Hung said.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/go-kho-tao-da-cho-cac-tram-y-te-xa-d394239.html