Phu Tho's healthcare sector overcomes challenges after merger.

After nearly a year of implementing administrative unit restructuring at all levels and operating a two-tiered local government model, the provincial health sector has gradually overcome initial difficulties, quickly stabilizing its organizational structure, maintaining effective professional operations, and ensuring uninterrupted healthcare for the people. Despite some remaining obstacles, the consolidation has created an important foundation for building a streamlined, effective, and efficient healthcare system, aiming to make Phu Tho a regional healthcare center in the Northern Midlands and mountainous region.

On July 1, 2025, the Phu Tho Provincial Department of Health was established by merging the existing Departments of Health of three provinces: Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, and Hoa Binh. This is considered the largest "restructuring" ever undertaken by the local health sector, directly affecting the organizational structure, personnel, public assets, the grassroots health system, and professional activities across a wide geographical area.

From the outset, the health sector proactively developed a consolidation plan, clearly defining its viewpoints, principles, roadmap, and implementation methods. A comprehensive approach to communication and dissemination of information was implemented to ensure unity among officials, civil servants, and employees. As a result, the consolidation process proceeded smoothly and did not affect the rights of citizens to receive medical examination, treatment, and healthcare.

The Provincial General Hospital has invested in modern medical equipment, contributing to improving the quality of healthcare for the people.

Following the merger, the organizational structure of the health sector has been significantly streamlined. Before the merger, there were 3 Departments of Health, 4 Sub-departments, 21 functional offices, and 66 affiliated units. Now, this has been reduced to 1 Department of Health, 2 Sub-departments, 8 functional offices, and 58 affiliated units. Notably, 494 commune/ward health stations have been transferred to the management of the commune-level People's Committees, and reorganized into 148 health stations according to the new model.

The restructuring of the administrative apparatus not only contributes to streamlining the organizational structure but also facilitates improved efficiency in state management in the health sector. The Department of Health has advised on the issuance of a series of important decisions related to functions, tasks, organizational structure, and management decentralization. These include the establishment of Facility 2 of the Provincial General Hospital based on the merger of Viet Tri Construction Hospital; and the transfer of the Central Hospital 74 to provincial management and renaming it Lung Hospital 74.

Along with streamlining the organizational structure, the health sector also focused on stabilizing its workforce. At the time of the merger, the entire sector had more than 12,359 civil servants and 2,628 contract workers in public service units. By May 2026, the total number of civil servants, public employees, and workers in the entire sector will be 14,105.

Given the reality that many officials and employees had to relocate far from their workplaces after the merger, the province issued a mechanism to support travel and accommodation expenses. From July 2025 to the end of April 2026, the Department of Health provided support to 571 officials and employees with a total budget of 6.82 billion VND. This policy contributes to helping medical staff feel secure in their work, minimizing disruption to morale and personnel.

One of the highlights following the merger is the acceleration of administrative reform and digital transformation. From July 1, 2025 to the present, the Department has submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for promulgation 21 decisions announcing the list of administrative procedures and approving internal processes; and organized many training courses on the online administrative procedure processing system.

To date, 100% of the sector's documents have been digitally signed; sending and receiving documents is entirely done online. The information technology infrastructure of medical examination and treatment facilities has basically reached level 5/7 according to the Ministry of Health's IT application evaluation criteria, meeting the requirements for deploying electronic medical records and smart hospitals. Administrative procedures have seen many positive changes. The rate of digitized input documents has reached 100%, and the rate of digitized results of administrative procedures has reached 85.3%.

Following the merger, the Dan Chu Commune Health Station gradually overcame initial difficulties and maintained its primary healthcare services for the people.

Despite the achievements, the implementation of the new model still faces many difficulties and obstacles. After transferring the management of the Health Stations to the People's Committees at the commune level, many localities are struggling due to a shortage of specialized medical personnel; most of the officials in charge of the health sector at the commune level have not received in-depth training.

Several units in the Hoa Binh area have seen many staff members requesting early retirement or resigning under downsizing policies, leading to a shortage of personnel in some positions. Attracting doctors to work at the grassroots level continues to be difficult, while professional requirements are increasingly high.

Furthermore, the information technology infrastructure in some units lacks uniformity; the Ministry of Health's administrative procedure processing system frequently experienced technical errors in its initial operational phase, affecting the processing time of applications...

Despite facing many challenges, with the province's determination and the proactive efforts of the sector, the healthcare system is gradually stabilizing, improving management capacity, the quality of medical examination and treatment, and undergoing comprehensive digital transformation.

For the period 2026-2030, the provincial health sector aims to continue strengthening the grassroots healthcare system; invest in synchronized infrastructure and equipment; develop human resources; promote digital transformation, build a database of people's health, and increase the rate of health insurance coverage at the commune level to over 20%.

Based on the initial results, it can be affirmed that, despite facing many challenges in the process of consolidating and operating the two-tiered local government model, the Phu Tho Health sector has demonstrated a proactive, flexible spirit and a determination to overcome difficulties. This will be an important foundation for the sector to continue innovating and improving the quality of healthcare for the people in the new development phase.

Hong Nhung

Source: https://baophutho.vn/y-te-phu-tho-vuot-kho-sau-sap-nhap-254383.htm