LookAtVietnam – A draft law on medical treatments and healthcare-related issues heated up the National Assembly’s discussion table yesterday, June 15, which was hosted by NA vice chairwoman Tong Thi Phong.

The draft law has tackled many problems in the country’s healthcare system, including defining basic rules for granting or withdrawing work permits for medical practitioners. (Photo: TTXVN)

The draft law, which allows both private and public medical workers to be eligible for work permits, received approval from most of the deputies.

However, Nam Dinh deputy Le Hong Minh, vice chairman of the Culture, Education, Youth, Children, and Infants Committee of the National Assembly, disagreed with one regulation that work permits granted by the Minister of Health can be used nationwide, whereas those granted by directors of provincial-level health departments will be limited within those provinces.

“This regulation will trouble doctors. For instance, it would be impossible for me to take a morning shift in Ha Noi and an afternoon shift in Hung Yen because I can’t change my work permit,” said Hong.

Hong also objected to a requirement to renew work permits every five years as the deputy said the process would be costly and open to corruption.

Deputy Huynh Nghia of Da Nang city agreed with Hong, suggesting a one-time licensing method.

“A good doctor is defined by his reputation, depending on the results of his treatment, not the papers issued by the Ministry of Health,” Nghia said.

Deputy Trieu Thi Binh of Yen Bai province said that the licensing process would only target private medical workers since granting work permits for the current 250,000 public medical workers would be expensive and too complicated.

The morning discussion also involved a debate on allowing medical practitioners to work part time.

Deputy Tran Thi Thanh Hang of Nam Dinh province proposed that the law should clearly distinguish between public medical workers founding or running private clinics and part-time ones directly treating patients at these clinics.

According to Hang, the law should ban public practitioners from establishing or managing any private healthcare services. She said this ban would restrict the drain of patients from public hospitals to private ones due to the influence of the doctor.

“The ban is in line with the State anti-corruption law,” Hang said.

However, the deputy was not against the law’s approval of part-time doctors, providing that there will be detailed management tools.

“In fact, Vietnamese health workers current salary is still low, failing to meet basic living conditions. Therefore, any qualified doctor who wants to work part time should be given permission,” said Hang.

Although deputy Nguyen Thi Sang of Tien Giang province had no opposition to either the proposed ban or part-time approval, she recommended that the number of private clinics a doctor could work at should be regulated.

Private clinics

Prerequisites for licensing new clinics and medical facilities or renewing and renovating existing ones were also subject to discussion.

Deputy Trieu Thi Binh of Yen Bai province pointed out inconsistencies on the law’s licensing requirements.

“Why has the law stipulated that only the Ministry of Health is able to license private hospitals with over 100 beds? It conflicts with the regulation which allows district health departments to license large State hospitals with several hundreds beds,” Binh said.

Conclusion

The Government’s policies on public health care and medical services, centring around issues of socialised healthcare at public hospitals and a location-based distribution of treatment, were also the subject of discussion.

Deputies came to a consensus on the need to promote medical workers’ professional ethics and skills for the benefit of patients.

Some deputies complained that the draft law focused too much on benefits for medical practitioners, dismissing those of patients.

“The draft law fails to mention the major problems challenging the industry, including degrading professional ethics, decreasing treatment quality, and over-crowded hospitals,” said deputy Truong Thi Thu Hang of Dong Nai province.

Wireless

Should a state management agency be created to replace the existing Inter- sectoral Management Committee on Wireless Frequencies?

That question was the focus of discussions on the draft law on wireless frequencies by National Assembly deputies yesterday afternoon.

Under the existing Ordinance on Post and Telecommunications, the Minister of Information and Communications is the head of the Inter-sectoral Management Committee on Wireless Frequencies.

According to a report presented by the Government, the committee’s performance has been efficient.

But the weak points in the existing ordinance are the legal relation between objects subject to the ordinance and the State’s role and responsibility in adjusting these relations.

These are hurdles in implementing the Ordinance on Post and Telecommunications.

Ho Anh Dung, representative from Ha Noi, said wireless frequencies were a sensitive issue relating to national security.

“If the management committee does not meet regularly it will not be able to solve urgent problems,” said Dung.

He supported the idea of creating a new agency to manage wireless frequencies and said that agency should be placed under the Government.

However, Chu Son Ha, also from Ha Noi, objected to Dung’s proposal.

He argued that the agency’s key role was to give advice to the Government, not to be another Government management body.

“Furthermore we are in the process of administrative reform, the committee will not be suitable for such a context,” said Ha.

Tran Dinh Long, from the Central Highland province of Dac Lac, said the law should not cover the issue of how a functional body should be established.

“The decision should be left for the Prime Minister to decide,” he said.

Le Doan Hop, Minister of Information and Communications, said the Management Committee on Wireless Frequencies was established 20 years ago.

“Why should we scrap an agency that has a lot of experiences in the field to create a State management body?” Hop asked.

He said his ministry and the committee had worked together efficiently to grant licences and organise bids for wireless frequencies.

Hop pointed to the example of the bidding to select mobile companies for 3G technology. Four out of seven bidders were selected for the service and they were all highly qualified.

In addition to that Hop said a functional agency in charge of the management of wireless frequencies was totally in line with the WTO regulations.

Deputies asked the drafting committee to consult radiation experts and create regulations to ensure conditions would be safe.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News