5:46:20 PM | 26/11/2013
Bac Kan health sector is still facing many difficulties in medical facilities and lack of high skilled health workers, so health care for people is limited.
The Provincial General Hospital is labelled level II with 320 beds and 7 functional rooms. But, the equipment of the level II hospital of Bac Kan meet only 60-65 percent of the criteria of the Ministry of Health. Most of the existing equipment is obsolete and downgraded; investment for medical care is small. It can be seen that the hospital just put into use a 4D colour ultrasound machine donated by the Lien Viet Post Bank in the early 2013, before that, the hospital used the black and white ultrasound machines. The hospital also hires private CT scanner which is of an old type that is no longer in use across the country. Currently, the number of patients from provincial hospitals to central ones is very big because there a not enough equipment for complicated surgery. There are also many broken laparoscopy machines but the hospital has no money to buy the new one or repair them.
Programme 1816 of the Ministry of Health which is being implemented in Bac Kan provincial hospital has great significance to enhance the professional capacity and treatment to people in the locality. In the recent time, the programme has achieved some remarkable results. Over 40 doctors of the Central hospitals and level I hospitals such as Saint Paul, Thanh Nhan, Obstetrics Ha Noi, Hospital E and Central Eye Hospital were mobilised to support the provincial hospital and a number of medical provincial centres of Bac Kan. In addition, the training for medical staff and doctors in the province is also implemented by central hospitals’ officers. With this support, many areas of specialisation in surgery, obstetrics, internal medicine including endoscopy, surgery, operation, cutting and treatment have been transferred.
Mr Be Ngoc Minh, Deputy Director of the Bac Kan Provincial General Hospital said that Programme 1816 is great to reduce pressure to central hospitals, as well as provide cost savings to people and improve professional teams. But in the process of implementation, there are still shortcomings because the equipment is not in sync, some techniques cannot be implemented, and some district’ hospitals can implement this because of low level of human resources and lack of equipment. He hopes that the State and the Party will invest more in the health sector and poor provinces in general and Bac Kan in particular.
Realising the difficulty of the provincial health sector, Mr Nguyen Tien Ton, Deputy Director of the Bac Kan Provincial Department of Health said: When there are projects to be implemented in the provincial health sector, local departments have actively accelerated effective governance for the care of people's health. Typical projects include: Strengthening primary health care capacity funded by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), Project to support the poor in Cao Bang and Bac Kan (VIE 027), Project to support medical sector in northern mountainous provinces (NUP), Project to strengthen standby health system capacity, global malaria control fund and HAARP project. In addition, to attract investors and aid, the Provincial People’s Committee always expands international cooperation, takes advantage of aid, and encourages and creates favourable conditions for foreign organisations to examine and implement projects in the province.
With all the efforts of the whole team of health officials in Bac Kan and the help of the State, the Party and Central hospitals, it’s believed that in the future, Bac Kan health sector will have new achievements in quality and quantity, and thus contribute to improving the quality of health care for the people and gradually resolve the problems of human resources for the health sector in the province.
Pham Mai