Ho Chi Minh City: Two "trillion" hospital projects abandoned and wasted

Despite being built decades ago with an investment of thousands of billions, two large hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City are still empty, overgrown with weeds, while the existing hospital is always overloaded with patients.

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City received two large-scale medical facilities including the 1,500-bed Binh Duong General Hospital and the 300-bed Binh Duong Psychiatric Hospital.

However, although most of the items have been completed, both hospitals have not yet been put into use. Many areas are degraded and overgrown with grass, causing waste of budget and affecting people's need for medical examination and treatment.

Binh Duong General Hospital is currently considered the largest hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with an area of ​​16 hectares and a capacity of 1,500 beds.

The project started in 2014, with a total investment of more than 4,500 billion VND, to provide specialized examination, diagnosis and treatment services for people in the locality and neighboring areas.

The project includes 7 component projects, in which Binh Duong Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board is the investor of 6 projects; Binh Duong Provincial Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board is the investor of 1 project.

However, after more than 10 years of construction, the project has not yet been completed and put into use. Reporters' observations show that many items are still being constructed slowly, and the surrounding area is overgrown with grass even though the main building has been topped out for a long time.

Many items and works of the new Binh Duong General Hospital have become old over time. (Photo: Huyen Trang/VNA)

Meanwhile, at the existing 500-bed Binh Duong General Hospital, the infrastructure has deteriorated, the overload situation has been prolonged, affecting the quality of medical examination and treatment. Patients and medical staff both expect the 1,500-bed hospital project to be operational soon to reduce pressure on the health system.

Ms. Duong Phuong Huyen (Phu Loi Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) said that her family often takes her relatives to the existing Binh Duong General Hospital for treatment.

The old facilities and large number of patients make waiting time longer. According to Ms. Huyen, the delay in putting the new hospital into operation causes difficulties for people, especially the elderly and those living far from the center.

Mr. Le Giang Nam (Thu Dau Mot Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) shared that he often jogs around the hospital construction area. The hospital is very beautiful and large, and if completed, it will be a modern hospital. However, currently, the items are still left empty. Local people hope that the project will be resolved to avoid waste and help reduce the burden on city-level hospitals.

Director of Binh Duong Construction Investment Project Management Board Nguyen Ngoc Van informed that the 1,500-bed General Hospital Cluster has 7 component projects, but only 2 projects are basically completed, 3 projects are under construction and 2 projects have not been implemented.

The new Binh Duong General Hospital has a scale of 1,500 beds. (Photo: Huyen Trang/VNA)

For the two basic completed projects including the wastewater treatment plant and the overall technical infrastructure, the project cannot be put into use yet due to lack of synchronous connection with the remaining items.

For the 3 projects under construction, the foundation construction has been 100% completed; the installation of technical systems has reached 79%; and the medical gas equipment has reached 50%. The central technical block and funeral home project has reached 32% progress, expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026; the project of parking lot, park, trees and wastewater treatment station fence has reached 46.4%.

There are 2 projects that have not been constructed yet, including: hospital equipment, interior and information technology project for the 1,500-bed General Hospital; the project for education and training, dormitories for students and relatives of patients has been approved, the Board will deploy the work for the project implementation phase from 2026-2029.

Expected to start construction of 2 interior and information technology projects in December 2025.

Currently, the Board has submitted the project implementation time adjustment appraisal to the Department of Construction (1,500-bed general hospital) and the Department of Finance (interior and information technology project); the Board has submitted the project adjustment appraisal and approval to the Department of Construction for the Central Technical Block and Funeral Home project.

After the adjusted project is approved, the Board will organize the selection of contractors for the packages in the first quarter of 2026. Currently, the project is under construction, so the general cleaning has not been carried out. The Board will complete the construction and general cleaning of the project before acceptance and putting it into use.

At Binh Duong Psychiatric Hospital (Binh Duong Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), reporters noted that the project was completed in 2018 with a scale of about 300 beds and functional areas, but is currently abandoned, many items are degraded, and trees are growing thickly.

The functional areas of Binh Duong Psychiatric Hospital are currently abandoned, many items are degraded. (Photo: Huyen Trang/VNA)

The hospital was used as a COVID-19 quarantine and treatment area until the end of 2021, then continued to be unused.

Before the merger, the authorities of the old Binh Duong province had surveyed and proposed exploitation plans many times but had not been able to implement them.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that while waiting for the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council to approve the renovation policy, the Department of Health proposed the City People's Committee to approve the assignment of the Mental Hospital as the 4th facility of the Ho Chi Minh City Mental Hospital and to urgently repair the facilities.

At the same time, the Binh Duong Construction Investment Project Management Board is speeding up the progress, putting the 1,500-bed Binh Duong General Hospital into operation in 2026 to meet the medical examination and treatment needs of people in the area./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-hai-cong-trinh-benh-vien-nghin-ty-bo-hoang-lang-phi-post1076136.vnp