Doctor employees of public hospitals will be allowed to work at private healthcare establishments under part time contracts or run health consultancy services on their own next year, a new legislation says.

It is estimated that Vietnam lacks some 2,000 doctors annually, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen told an Asia-Pacific conference on improving the access to health services in disadvantaged areas held by the health ministry in cooperation with WHO in Hanoi on Monday.

However, the regulation, which is part of the Law of Health Examination and Treatment that was passed at the NA session also on Monday and will take effect on January 1, 2011, does not allow health workers to establish or participate in the management of private hospitals.

It also regulates that health workers’ practicing certificates will not have term limits and will not have to be renewed every five years.

The law lists 14 banned activities for the sector. Health workers, except traditional medicine practitioners, are not allowed to sell drugs to patients.

In related news, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered the health sector to increase the proportion of sickbeds from 18/10,000 at the moment to 25/10,000 within the next few years. His instruction was issued at a meeting with Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu on Monday.

The order aimed to address the current problem of overloading at public hospitals.

Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said central hospitals are running at 150 percent of their capacity, while provincial ones were operating at 125 percent and those at districts at 115 percent.

The state will increase its investment in the sector by 20 percent next year to deal with the long-lasting problem, the PM said, urging the ministry to make plans to set up specialized health clinics and projects to take loans from foreign organizations to upgrade health care facilities and expand their coverage.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre