Remarkable developments in Dong Nai's healthcare sector

Patients are guided to register for medical examination and treatment automatically from the smart medical kiosk at Vinh Cuu District Medical Center. Photo: H. Dung

No more 2-3 patients sharing a bed

The development journey of Dong Nai General Hospital - one of two grade I provincial general hospitals - is closely linked to the development of Dong Nai's health sector.

In the early years after the country was unified, the hospital had 380 beds, poor facilities, a lack of doctors and nurses, and outdated equipment. The increasing number of patients often caused the hospital to be overloaded, with 2-3 patients per bed, and sometimes patients had to sleep under the bed or in the hallway.

Specialist II Doctor Ngo Duc Tuan, Director of the hospital, recalled: “When I was at the old hospital, the rooms were very cramped. The recovery room and operating room were located right on the sewer, and the water filled up during the rainy season. The entire Outpatient Department had only one shared toilet for both patients and medical staff, lacking in every way.”

Since April 30, 2015, Dong Nai General Hospital has moved to a new facility in Binh Da Ward, Bien Hoa City. This is one of the most modern and spacious provincial hospitals at that time, on par with hospitals in Southeast Asia.

Every day, the hospital examines about 4,000 outpatients and treats more than 1,000 inpatients. The system of modern machinery and equipment with a team of more than 1,600 medical staff. The examination and treatment process has been replaced from manual to thoroughly applying information technology, from the registration stage to the payment of hospital fees. In particular, the hospital's test results have been linked to the system with many hospitals in and outside the province, helping patients save a lot of time, money and effort.

Notably, Dong Nai General Hospital has made great strides in professional development. The hospital has introduced open heart surgery into routine practice. Many very difficult techniques that were previously only performed at central hospitals are now mastered by the hospital's doctors, saving thousands of serious and critical cases.

“We are moving towards establishing 3 centers: cardiovascular, oncology and emergency. When these 3 centers come into operation, they will further improve the quality of medical examination and treatment at the hospital in particular and the entire Dong Nai health sector in general. It is expected that this year, we will perform kidney transplants, and move towards transplanting many other organs,” shared Dr. Ngo Duc Tuan.

Not only Dong Nai General Hospital, but also Thong Nhat General Hospital, regional general hospitals, and medical centers in the province are also growing strongly.

Standing out among them is Long Khanh Regional General Hospital. This is the first and only hospital in the province to date that has successfully implemented electronic medical records, aiming towards a paperless hospital. The hospital is also testing the application of artificial intelligence in imaging diagnosis, thoroughly utilizing information technology to simplify the examination and treatment process, helping patients feel secure and satisfied. Over the past 7 years, the hospital has maintained good specialist clinics with the contribution of leading experts in Ho Chi Minh City to examine local people. The successful implementation of the Cardiovascular Intervention Unit and the successful treatment of many cases of acute myocardial infarction shows the great progress of a regional hospital in the province.

At the 70th Anniversary of Vietnamese Doctors' Day (February 27) at the end of February 2025, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee NGUYEN SON HUNG suggested that the health sector continue to conquer advanced and new techniques in diagnosis and treatment. Develop a development strategy for the health sector of the province, with a specific roadmap to develop health quality. The goal is to become a high-quality health center not only in the Southeast region, but also in the whole country.

Constantly evolving

Director of the Department of Health Le Quang Trung said that over the past 50 years, Dong Nai's health sector has continuously innovated and developed, contributing to protecting, caring for, and improving the health of people throughout the province.

The healthcare system is increasingly improved from the province to the grassroots, providing many options for people when they need medical examination and treatment. From a shortage of doctors, the whole province now has nearly 3,300 doctors per 10,000 people, ranking second in the Southeast region, after Ho Chi Minh City. The quality of the healthcare workforce is increasingly improved.

Doctors at Long Khanh Regional General Hospital perform an endoscopy on a patient.

Specialist Doctor I Tran Minh Dang, Head of Tan Hiep Commune Health Station (Long Thanh District), confided that compared to a few decades ago, the activities of health stations have changed a lot. In terms of facilities, the station has been invested in and renovated to be spacious, clean and beautiful with many types of necessary machinery and equipment. Medicines at the station are now provided according to the station's recommendations and needs, not according to the previous level. There are types of medicine that people had to go to higher levels to get, but now they are available at the station, so they don't have to go far. Moreover, at the commune health station, people enjoy full health insurance benefits, sometimes when they come for examination and treatment, they don't have to pay extra.

In order to improve the quality of health education communication for local people, doctors, nurses, and medical staff at health stations in the province regularly use social networks such as Zalo, Facebook, and TikTok to post monthly vaccination schedules, campaign vaccination schedules, vitamin A schedules, and other necessary announcements. This is a new form of communication that saves time and effort while being highly effective.

In order to “share the burden” with public hospitals, many private hospitals and clinics have been established in the province. The province currently has 8 private general and specialized hospitals, 90 general clinics, more than 1,700 specialized clinics and medical service facilities, ranking in the top 3 in the country in terms of the number of private medical facilities.

As one of the people who regularly come to Thong Nhat General Hospital for examination and treatment of diabetes, Ms. PTH (70 years old, residing in Tan Bien ward, Bien Hoa city) confided that she was very satisfied with the medical examination at the hospital. As soon as she entered the hospital, there were staff to guide her through the procedures, register for medical examination using the smart medical kiosk, automatic payment, no need to waste time waiting in long lines, jostling and pushing like before. The attitude of the doctors and nurses was also polite and dedicated.

Hanh Dung

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/y-te/202504/nhung-buoc-phat-trien-vuot-bac-cua-nganh-y-te-dong-nai-a1a137e/