Editor's note: The health sector in Ho Chi Minh City has really changed over the past time when a series of new, spacious and well-equipped facilities were put into operation. However, some hospitals are still overloaded, with patients crowded together and waiting, while construction projects are still sluggishly waiting for completion.
13 years still… motionless
Dr. Chau Van Dinh, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Orthopedic and Trauma Hospital, said that the dormitory building of Cao Thang Technical College (address 931 - 937 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 5) was built in the 1960s and is seriously degraded. Due to its age, many walls, columns and beams of the building are water-soaked, peeling, and even pieces of concrete have fallen onto the roof of the operating room and the hospital's administrative area. In addition, the building no longer ensures safety in terms of construction structure, fire prevention and fighting safety, environmental hygiene safety, etc., leading to unsafe conditions for the lives of employees, workers, and relatives of patients at the hospital.
According to the reporter's investigation, the HCM City Orthopedic and Trauma Hospital had to evacuate patients many times when the dormitory caught fire, and wastewater from the dormitory's trash overflowed and contaminated the emergency area and the hospital's corridors. The hospital also only has one nearly 2-meter-wide passageway inside, while it receives 5,000 people (including patients and their relatives) every day, so the scene of crowding and congestion from the gate to the inside of the hospital often occurs.
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| Model of Ho Chi Minh City Orthopedic Trauma Hospital (facility 2) at area 6A, hamlet 4, Binh Hung commune, Binh Chanh district |
Faced with the above situation, in 2010, the Prime Minister agreed to the policy of building a new Ho Chi Minh City Orthopedic Trauma Hospital in Binh Hung Commune, Binh Chanh District with a scale of 13 floors (12 floors above ground, 1 basement), with 500 beds, a total investment of about 1,130 billion VND under the BT (build-transfer) contract method. At that time, Ho Chi Minh City was determined to start construction of the hospital in the fourth quarter of 2010, with an estimated construction time of 32 months (from the time of handing over the site), but 13 years have passed, the project is still... motionless.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health once proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee stop implementing the project under the BT form and switch to the city’s budget. The project location was also requested to be moved to Tan Tuc town, Binh Chanh district. However, to date, the project is still… on paper.
The chorus of "waiting"
Faced with the current state of the hospital's seriously degraded facilities, the increasing number of patients, while the project to build a new hospital has not been implemented for too long; the leaders of the Orthopedic Trauma Hospital have sent a document requesting to receive the house and land assets from the Ho Chi Minh City Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital (which has moved to a new facility in Binh Chanh District) at 201 Pham Viet Chanh Street, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1, to serve the needs of patient care, limiting the overload situation at the facility in District 5. This solution is supported by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health.
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| Relatives of patients have to sleep under the patient's bed at the Ho Chi Minh City Orthopedic and Trauma Hospital. |
On August 4, 2023, the unit sent a document to the Department of Finance regarding the transfer of real estate and land assets at 201 Pham Viet Chanh Street, District 1. The document clearly stated: the transfer of real estate and land assets of the Ho Chi Minh City Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital to the Orthopedic Trauma Hospital as a place for medical examination and treatment is necessary, suitable for medical examination and treatment work and promotes the effective use of public assets.
Responding to this information, on September 21, at a regular press conference organized by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Tran Phu, Deputy Director of the Department of Finance, said that in September 2023, the unit will complete the procedures for transferring and handing over assets from the Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital (land at 201 Pham Viet Chanh Street, District 1) to the Orthopedic Trauma Hospital. At the same time, the Orthopedic Trauma Hospital is required to conduct a survey and develop a plan for renovation and repair.
“The Department of Finance has completed the appraisal, agreed with the proposal of the Department of Health and is drafting a document to submit to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in the direction of approving the transfer of assets (including houses, land and assets attached to land) from the Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital to the Orthopedic Trauma Hospital for management and use; at the same time, proposing to assign the Department of Health to direct the two hospitals to organize the handover, receipt, management and use of assets according to regulations,” informed Mr. Nguyen Tran Phu.
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| The cramped, small space inside the Ho Chi Minh City Orthopedic Hospital. Photo: QUANG HUY |
However, recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance sent an urgent document to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health with information about the land plot at 201 Pham Viet Chanh Street, District 1, with a land area of 890.8 square meters and a floor area of 1,632 square meters, managed by the Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital (branch 2). According to the Department of Finance, since 2013, the Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital has had a certificate of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to the land issued by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment. According to information from the Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross Society, this land plot previously belonged to the Red Cross infirmary (201 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1). In 1977, the Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross Society was established and was assigned by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to manage this land plot as its headquarters.
This land was then divided in half at the request of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, and loaned to the Department of Health to build a Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital to serve the treatment and accommodation of patients. From 2011 to 2013, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued instructions related to the establishment of an investment project to build a new headquarters of the Red Cross Society, including the area of the current association and the area currently used by the Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital.
In order to have a basis for reporting to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the Department of Finance requested the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to provide information on the progress of implementing the instructions of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee related to the establishment of an investment project to build a new headquarters for the Red Cross Society. At the same time, determine whether the land area of 890.8 m2 granted to the Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital includes the area that the Red Cross Society has lent to the Department of Health or not. For the Department of Health and the Blood Transfusion - Hematology Hospital, the Department of Finance requested to report the entire process of receiving, managing and using the land and house at 201 Pham Viet Chanh Street; with all relevant legal documents, clearly identifying the area received from the Red Cross Society.
According to the reporter's investigation, as of October 13, the land plot at 201 Pham Viet Chanh Street, District 1, was still closed and locked, and a representative of the Orthopedic Trauma Hospital said that the transfer had not yet been carried out.
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