Perfecting breakthrough policies to improve people's health

(Chinhphu.vn) - At the working session on December 2, National Assembly deputies paid great attention to the draft Resolution on breakthrough mechanisms and policies in protecting, caring for and improving people's health. Most opinions agreed on the necessity of issuing the Resolution, and at the same time proposed many strategic solutions to perfect the health system, expand health care benefits and improve service quality for the people.

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.

Received many important proposals in the medical field

In her acceptance and explanation speech, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan respectfully thanked the delegates for their enthusiastic opinions on two key contents, including the specific Resolution implementing Resolution 72-NQ/TW of the Politburo and the content related to the development of the National Target Program on health, population and development. The Minister emphasized that Resolution 72-NQ/TW has identified the protection and care of people's health as a top political task, associated with all socio-economic development strategies and requiring the participation of the entire political system.

According to the Minister, the health sector is facing many major tasks: perfecting institutions, organizing effective implementation, improving service quality, increasing resources and especially meeting the increasing needs of the people. These tasks are both regular work and require breakthrough solutions to resolve problems that have accumulated over many years.

The content of periodic health check-ups and disease screening has been of interest to many delegates. The Minister said that the Law on Disease Prevention - expected to be passed at this session - will become a long-term legal basis to help improve disease prevention policies, especially after the shortcomings exposed during the COVID-19 period. Relevant regulations have been studied and integrated into the draft Law to ensure synchronous implementation.

The issue of ensuring safety for medical staff received high consensus. The Minister affirmed that the health sector appreciated the delegates' sharing and added this content to the draft Resolution to complete the legal framework to protect frontline forces.

Some opinions suggested strengthening public-private cooperation, especially in the fields of land and tax. The Minister said the regulations were built in the spirit of unification with related documents, ensuring no overlap and in line with the orientation of socialization of health services.

Regarding the policy of free hospital fees and diversification of health insurance packages, the Minister informed that the Ministry of Health is developing a project according to the assigned tasks, widely collecting opinions from ministries, branches and localities. The principled contents will be stipulated in the Resolution, while the scope of subjects, roadmap and professional guidance will be stipulated by the Government to ensure flexibility.

Many opinions focus on salary and allowance policies for medical staff, especially in the context of many difficulties in the medical force. The Ministry of Health is submitting to the Government a decree on special regimes, including on-duty regimes and allowances for primary health care. These are important contents to retain and attract high-quality human resources.

Regarding grassroots health care, the Minister said that the Ministry is reviewing the administrative unit system according to the two-level local model, and at the same time building a new set of criteria for commune health stations expected to be applied from 2026. Regarding the Health Insurance Fund, the Ministry of Health will continue to research to ensure fund balance, expand benefits and improve policy sustainability.

The content of caring for the elderly and developing the system of nursing facilities also attracted the attention of delegates. The Minister said that the projects under the National Target Program included many tasks of investing, renovating and building nursing facilities; in addition, the policy of attracting socialization continued to be promoted according to the Investment Law.

Regarding the allocation of resources for the National Target Program, the Minister informed: The program consists of five projects, the sub-projects have been reasonably resourced. The project on population and development accounts for a significant proportion and is designed in a people-centered direction. The budget allocation has been appraised by the Ministry of Health in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the State Audit to ensure feasibility.

The Minister emphasized that the process of developing the two draft resolutions took place in the context of the arrangement of two-level local governments, reviewing planning and requiring improved feasibility in implementation. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has closely coordinated with ministries, branches and localities to complete the dossier and absorb many important recommendations from delegates.

Orientation to complete the profile, improve innovation and synchronization

Concluding the session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh said that there were 28 comments in the hall. The comments focused on two major contents: the Draft Resolution on special mechanisms and the dossier of the National Target Program on health, population and development. Many delegates highly appreciated the elaborate preparation of the Government and the drafting agency, as well as the initial explanation of the Minister of Health.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly requested the Government to direct research and fully absorb the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the verification agency, the National Assembly agencies and the opinions of delegates in the group and the hall to complete the dossier for submission for approval at the 10th Session.

Regarding the draft Resolution on special mechanisms, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly emphasized the need to closely follow the spirit of Resolution 72 of the Politburo, supplementing regulations to ensure correctness, sufficiency and breakthroughs. The content of expanding health care benefits for people, reducing medical costs, enhancing decentralization, perfecting policies on land, tax, finance, ensuring safety for medical staff, training human resources and international cooperation needs to be studied more deeply. Solutions to develop elderly care facilities, strengthen primary health care, emergency care and mental health care are also emphasized.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly noted the need to review the consistency between the draft Resolution and the current legal system and the draft laws being amended, and to study and propose the development of the Law on Traditional Medicine to meet development requirements in the new period.

Regarding the National Target Program, opinions requested clarification of capital sources, ensuring adequate allocation of minimum capital and appropriate balance between health care, population and development goals; reviewing the feasibility of mobilizing local capital sources; ensuring no duplication between sub-projects and other programs; increasing decentralization and perfecting the coordination mechanism. Adjusting the project structure, adding specific evaluation indicators, perfecting the content on goals, time, mechanisms and implementation solutions according to the Law on Public Investment were also emphasized.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly affirmed that fully synthesizing and seriously absorbing comments will help perfect major policies, creating momentum for developing the healthcare system in a modern, sustainable direction, and putting people at the center.

Hai Lien

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/hoan-thien-chinh-sach-dot-pha-de-nang-cao-suc-khoe-nhan-dan-102251202143123209.htm