Health insurance check-up: Queuing from early morning, still not your turn by noon

Patients who have health insurance at Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital (HCMC) wait wearily for their turn even though many people have been there since 5-6am - Photo: THU HIEN

This is also a "headache" problem for many hospitals, especially for end-line hospitals when the number of patients from the provinces is increasing day by day.

Waiting 4-5 hours is tiring and exhausting.

According to Tuoi Tre's records in early May, at Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, patients were sitting in crowded queues waiting for examination in the examination and treatment areas.

At nearly 10am, many patients still had not yet had their turn for examination and treatment, even though they had lined up at the hospital since 6am or even earlier. Most of the patients were transferred from the provinces such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ben Tre , Binh Dinh...

This is the 9th time Ms. NTL (50 years old, Ben Tre, colon cancer) has come to the hospital to receive chemotherapy every week. Although the doctors gave her an appointment number 47, it was not until nearly 10am that her number was 43.

"At 4am, my husband and I packed up our things, had breakfast, and drove from our hometown to the hospital for a check-up. We waited from 6am until almost 10am but still had not had our turn because there were too many chemotherapy patients. Every time we went for a check-up, we knew we would lose the whole day," Ms. L. confided.

Similarly, the waiting area at Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital (HCMC) has been packed with people waiting to see a doctor in recent days, most of whom are elderly people with health insurance.

Especially from early morning to noon, the number of patients with health insurance coming here is very large. From the examination room to the main hall, rows of patients sit in rows of chairs, some line up one after another waiting for their turn.

Because of the long wait and fatigue, many patients had to sit on the floor. Patients said they arrived at the hospital from 5-6am, lining up to get a number but still could not avoid the crowded and waiting scene.

"I came here early in the morning to get a number, but it took nearly 2 hours for my name to be called," said a patient. In the same situation, an old woman said she had to go for a regular electrocardiogram as requested by her doctor, but every time she came, she had to wait 1-2 hours.

Overload at end-line hospitals

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, Dr. Vo Hong Minh Phuoc - Deputy Director of the Oncology Hospital (HCMC) - said that there are many reasons leading to the long waiting time for patients, such as the increasing number of patients diagnosed with new cancers, leading to an increase in the number of patients coming for examination and treatment.

In addition, many patients from the provinces come here. Most patients always want to finish their examination within the day (to avoid incurring overnight accommodation costs), so they often come to see the doctor early in the morning.

Besides, due to limitations in service capacity such as modern machinery but the quantity is still limited, not enough to meet the increasing number of patients.

Doctor Phuoc said that with the increasing number of patients coming from the provinces, the hospital has come up with many solutions to reduce the burden on patients as follows: organizing early reception and examination from 5am; increasing the number of radiation sessions starting from 5am, ending around 24pm; organizing surgeries outside of office hours and on Saturdays; chemotherapy outside of hours on Saturdays...

At the same time, patients are encouraged to use the app/website to make an appointment; in the near future, the hospital is expected to increase the forms of payment for hospital fees, health insurance or receive test results and images online to avoid patients having to wait for results.

At Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, patients sit in crowded queues waiting for examination and treatment areas - Photo: GIA HAN

How to solve the root cause?

At Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital, a hospital representative admitted that there were times when the examination department was overloaded due to software and machine problems.

In addition, the hospital has just put into operation a new building, so the layout between departments is not harmonious, causing patients to move around more, leading to longer waiting times.

The number of patients with health insurance at the hospital tends to increase with about 1,700 visits/day (previously about 1,400 - 1,500 visits/day). In case the patient comes to get medicine, without clinical examination, the examination time is quick, about 30 minutes.

In case of patients undergoing paraclinical examination (ultrasound, electrocardiogram, blood test, X-ray), the examination time is longer, and there are a few cases that cannot be examined in the morning.

Responding to a patient's complaint about the default requirement of having to do a test before getting a prescription when using health insurance, this person said that according to the Ministry of Health 's protocol, patients with certain diseases need to have a paraclinical examination after 3-6 months, such as diabetes, and there is no default requirement that they will have a test done every time a patient comes for a check-up.

To fundamentally solve the problem of patients from the provinces gathering in major hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City such as the Oncology Hospital, Mr. Phuoc said that it is necessary to implement the following plans and solutions: build and develop a cancer prevention network in the Southern region and regional linkages, strengthen regional coordination to implement screening work, promote regional coordination and cooperation to improve the quality and efficiency in the diagnosis and treatment of common cancers in each locality.

At the same time, develop and standardize human resources in the field of oncology according to technical and professional levels. Provincial hospitals need to improve their treatment capacity to attract patients to lower-level hospitals to reduce the burden on upper-level hospitals.

End-line hospitals increase support

In order to reduce waiting time for patients, in recent years, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector has implemented many solutions such as: digital transformation, improving the capacity of grassroots health care (bringing medicine to health stations, sending newly graduated doctors to practice at grassroots health stations, sending young doctors to health stations), end-line hospitals increasing support for district and county levels, regional linkages...

Typically, recently the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health signed a decision for four end-line hospitals including Tu Du Hospital, City Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology, People's Hospital 115 and Children's Hospital 1 to provide comprehensive support to Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital. This will solve the need for medical examination and treatment for people, reducing the burden on the end-line.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector has also signed cooperation and agreements with the provinces of the Southeast region and 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region.

This solves the long-standing stressful problem by helping patients avoid having to go to higher-level hospitals for treatment, which is both costly and a waste of resources.

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THU HIEN - XUAN MAI - GIA HAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/kham-bao-hiem-y-te-xep-hang-tu-sang-som-trua-van-chua-toi-luot-20250512220842929.htm