Study for 8 years, salary of 6 million VND: Doctor sells goods, works 15 hours a day to 'stick to the profession'

Since giving birth, the female doctor has reluctantly become a "part-time entrepreneur" to both pursue her passion for practicing medicine and have money to live on when her salary at the hospital cannot afford diapers and milk. After finishing her work day at 7 p.m. after a 3-hour surgery on a patient whose ear was torn in an accident, Ha Ngan (character's name has been changed), 27 years old, a young doctor at a provincial hospital, hurried home to deliver the goods to a customer. The item was delivered to a regular customer with an apology for the emergency surgery, causing the delivery to be delayed. Since getting married and having children, Ngan has reluctantly become a "part-time entrepreneur" to both continue pursuing her passion for practicing medicine and have money to live on when her salary at the hospital, as she describes it, cannot afford diapers and milk.

After 6 years in university, 12 months of rotation, 6 months of orientation and 3 months of ENT endoscopy, Ngan is qualified to work at the ENT Department of the provincial hospital, with a certificate of practice in general medicine. Ngan's task at the department is to rotate at the ENT clinic and the inpatient treatment area. "According to regulations, our morning shift starts from 7am to 11am; the afternoon shift is from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. However, in reality, almost every day my colleagues and I finish the morning shift at 12pm and the afternoon shift at 6pm to 7pm. On days when there is an emergency surgery, it is normal to go home when it is already dark," Ngan said. In addition, every 6-7 days, this young female doctor goes on duty 24/7. The work pressure is heavy, but Ngan's current salary is less than 6 million VND. "My salary includes: basic salary with coefficient 2.34; 1.49 million VND in allowance according to human resource attraction policy; allowance equivalent to 40% of basic salary. Total about 5.7 million VND. In addition, we have additional costs when performing procedures. However, if I work a lot in a month, I only get about 500,000 VND more," Ngan said.

Objectively assessing herself, Ngan said that the salary of a young doctor like her is relatively low compared to the effort put in, as well as compared to the general level of other professions. "Many of my friends studying in the fields of economics and engineering only need about 4-5 years to graduate and start working. Up to now, my peers have had 4-5 years of work with a salary 2-3 times higher than mine for 8-hour/day office work," Ngan confided. Comparing only within the medical industry, according to Ngan, the salary for doctors in public hospitals is "very weak" compared to private medical facilities. Ngan pointed out: "I have not had the opportunity to study for a specialist I to obtain a certificate to practice a specialist, so in surgeries, I can only take on the position of assistant surgeon. For each surgery lasting 1.5 - 2 hours, I am paid 30,000 - 50,000 VND. To sew up a patient's torn ear, it takes 3 hours, and we are paid 30,000 VND. For major surgeries lasting 3 hours, the highest is only 90,000 VND. That is the cost for the assistant 1 position, for those in the assistant 2 position, there will be absolutely no such fee. If I study to become a specialist I and become the main surgeon, the payment will only increase by 30 - 40%. For example, in an emergency ENT surgery, the doctor will only be paid an additional 130,000 - 140,000 VND. Meanwhile, in the same position, many patients Private hospitals can pay doctors several million dong for an operation.

Low salary, for Ngan, is not too big of a problem. According to this girl, the motivation to pursue the profession is passion and the busy medical profession does not leave much time to spend money. However, this was only true until she got married. "The income of around 6 million VND helped me to live when I was single and thought that I could pursue my passion for a long time. However, getting married and having children made me disillusioned," Ngan sighed, continuing: "Family life has a series of expenses that I could not have expected. Meanwhile, my husband is also a young doctor with an income that is not much better." The salary is not enough to live on, this young doctor's family is forced to find many other part-time jobs to earn more income. From "bookworms", we reluctantly learned step by step how to sell online, from how to find sources of goods, post advertisements, to how to take care of customers... These things are like a "new world " to us. "Every time I open my eyes, I see work" is how Ngan describes her current situation of working two jobs. "At 6am, the first thing I do after waking up is spend 15 minutes posting sales posts, then have breakfast and go to work. At noon, I take advantage of my break to check customer messages and place orders; after work in the afternoon, I take advantage of the time to ship nearby orders to save costs and build relationships with customers. At night, when the children are in bed, my husband and I pack goods and reply to customer messages. Everything usually ends after 10pm," Ngan describes. Although she was trained in a medical environment and is used to working at a high intensity, Ngan admits that the current pressure of "one foot in, one foot out" has overloaded her. "I've been using the computer a lot, and my eyesight has gotten worse recently. I know it's bad for my health , but I have to try. My husband is currently away from home studying for a 2-year specialist degree. Every month, in addition to the usual expenses, I need 2 million VND for my husband's living expenses and more than 4 million VND to pay off his debt," Ngan confided, emphasizing that the total income from the medical profession of just over 10 million VND for the couple is of course not enough.

Similar to Ngan's story, Hoang (character's name has been changed), a young doctor working in the Department of Dentistry - Maxillofacial Surgery of a provincial hospital, said that he has been burdened by economic pressure since graduating. "I got married early because my parents are old, my wife's job is not stable, so my salary of around 6 million VND is certainly not enough for the family's living expenses. Roughly calculating through the money for diapers and milk for the child every month, it is already 2 million VND. There is also the debt my parents borrowed for me to study medicine, when medical school tuition skyrocketed due to the application of the autonomy policy," Hoang confided, adding that the recent "price storm" situation has made the economic pressure on the family even heavier. Outside of office hours, Hoang does many extra jobs, from going to the clinic by appointment "orders" from local clinics to selling online. On average, he works at least 15 hours a day, not including the time for studying and researching. However, according to this young doctor, this is just a "fire-fighting" measure and it has a significant impact on his studies and career development. Recently, Hoang received an offer to work at a private hospital in the area with a salary higher than his current total income. However, according to Hoang's description, he is in a "dilemma".

"Although the income is low, public hospitals are still the best environment to improve expertise, when you come into contact with many patients and many difficult and serious cases. This is a very important factor for those working in the medical field. Meanwhile, going to a private hospital with a higher income will make life much easier than it is now. However, I am still worried that my skills will go sideways," Hoang sighed and continued: "This is also the reason why when I graduated, I chose to work at a public hospital even though there were job opportunities with attractive salaries from private medical facilities. However, facing the pressure of making a living, my direction has recently been shaken." This young doctor also said that many of his colleagues also received invitations with attractive salaries from private medical facilities. Many people choose to go to a new destination. For young doctors with limited financial resources like Hoang, deciding to stay at a public hospital, it is almost mandatory to have a side job to make ends meet.

After 7 years of working, Thanh (character's name has been changed), a doctor at a central hospital, has an income of about 10 million VND, an increase of about 1 million VND compared to the first year of working. The income is not high, especially in a place with an expensive cost of living like Hanoi . However, Thanh said that he still "can live" on his salary and is not under too much economic pressure, so he can focus on his career. "The nature of the medical profession" is one of the factors, according to Thanh, that helps him live well with this salary. "The lucky thing for people working in the medical profession is that when the income is low, they don't have to spend much money. Our characteristic is to eat and sleep at the hospital. When we go home, we also focus on studying and reviewing for higher education, so we don't have to spend much money," Thanh said. Thanh described pursuing a medical career as like growing perennial plants. Identify that the first 5-10 years of working will be difficult and economically almost "zero", when income is only enough for basic living expenses as well as reinvestment in studying.

"However, when you have skills, experience and a reputation, financial problems will no longer be a burden, when in addition to the main job, skilled doctors have many options to practice overtime with relatively high salaries," Thanh analyzed. However, this young doctor also admitted that the salary of a doctor who has only worked for a few years can hardly ensure a stable and balanced life, but must accept trade-offs. "In the first years of my career, I was not married, so I did not have much economic pressure, so I could focus on professional development. The salary was enough to live on, but could not meet the needs for a complete and balanced life. In the years after graduation, I did not attend any class reunions when I had almost nothing in my hand. Meanwhile, at that time, my friends had relatively stable careers, those who were successful could even buy cars," Thanh shared. With the salary paid by the hospital, according to Thanh, he could only support himself. If you are the breadwinner of the family, it is very difficult to ensure life, especially the cost of raising children and sending them to school. Besides, buying a house is also a distant goal with a low salary and for many years it has only increased slightly. In the case of having to rent a house, it adds up to a relatively large amount of money. According to Thanh, he is lucky to have a part-time job related to his professional work. This helps this young doctor solve the problem at the same time: having more income and improving his skills. "The development of technology also opens up many opportunities for young doctors like us to pursue our passion, as well as solve the economic problem. I am currently participating in an online medical examination network. Every week, examining and monitoring 5-7 patients also helps earn an extra income to cover my living expenses," Thanh shared.

In July 2022, the Vietnam Medical Trade Union sent a report to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor on the situation of medical staff quitting their jobs and the shortage of medicines and supplies. It pointed out 8 reasons why more than 9,000 medical staff quit their jobs from the beginning of 2021 to the first 6 months of 2022. The report pointed out that low income is one of the main reasons why many medical staff quit their jobs. Accordingly, salaries and allowances for medical staff in the public system are low, especially at preventive medical facilities and grassroots medical facilities. The reason is that the operating budget is mainly guaranteed by the state budget, and career revenue is low.

According to current regulations on salary and allowances (with a basic salary of 1,490,000 VND), after 6 years of study and 18 months of practice to be granted a practice certificate, if recruited into a public service unit, the salary is 2.34 x 1,490,000 VND = 3,486,000 VND. With a preferential allowance of 40%, the income is 4,881,240 VND (excluding social insurance and health insurance). This salary only covers part of the needs of life. Therefore, it is very difficult for public health facilities to retain health workers, while the income at non-public health facilities is 3 to 4 times higher, and in some places 5 to 6 times higher than the income of health workers at public health facilities. Content: Minh Nhat Design: Thuy Tien Dantri.com.vn