Is training human resources in the health sector too luxurious?

(Baonghean) - "I predict that next year the country's agricultural sector will develop rapidly thanks to the large number of candidates who failed the university entrance exam. Even with 27 points in the medical entrance exam, I still failed the entrance exam. How shocking!" Of course, medical schools have long been among the top universities and everyone knows that passing the medical entrance exam is extremely difficult. However, the fact that several hundred candidates with 27 points are at risk of failing the medical entrance exam still "shocks" public opinion.

This year, Hanoi Medical University has more than 700 candidates with scores above 27 points, all of whom registered for the general practitioner program. The quota for this program this year is 550, minus the number of direct admission candidates, there are more than 400 quotas. This means that the standard score this year must be from 27.5. Similarly, the General Medicine program of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy has 400 quotas this year, not counting priority admission and direct admission candidates, there are 428 candidates with scores above 27 points. The number of candidates with scores higher than last year's standard score exceeding this year's quota occurs in almost all majors and medical training schools.

There is clearly an imbalance between supply and demand in the health sector: while local hospitals and health stations are severely lacking in human resources, the training process is "slow" and "selective". Of course, for a profession directly related to human life, input selection is necessary, but should it be too strict when candidates with good academic performance (scoring 9 points/subject!) are still rejected? The problem lies in the training target setting: first, there is no balance with the human resource needs of the industry; second, there is no balance with the number of registered candidates and the score distribution.

Once the key problem is identified, the solution will appear. Firstly, there needs to be a close connection between training schools and medical facilities in terms of information to adjust supply and demand, based on statistics on human resources in the medical sector to set appropriate enrollment targets. Secondly, depending on the quantity and quality of candidates registering each year, there should be flexibility in setting targets, avoiding the situation of picking green fruit to meet the target or leaving ripe fruit because the basket is full. Another problem is the cases of recruitment, originating from the purpose of balancing the candidate distribution map (candidates in remote areas, extremely difficult areas) and human resources (these candidates will return to their localities after graduation, reducing the shortage of trained human resources). However, there are subjects who are not in the above category who have taken advantage of this policy to "backdoor" into the gate of the University of Medicine, graduating with weak capacity.

The question may arise: Increasing the quota means expanding training facilities, where is the budget? I would like to say, if there is still a budget for the interdisciplinary and in-service training systems, which are less systematic training systems, then why not rebalance the budget for formal and informal training? Once we have determined which training level has more practical value, it is clear that dividing the budget so that "those who work a lot eat a lot, those who work less eat a little" as Uncle Ho once said is completely reasonable and necessary! As for the recruitment policy, this policy comes from an idea that is not wrong but is not suitable for reality: "if in the cities the supply does not meet the demand, will there be any left over" for remote, isolated, and especially difficult areas?

Talking about the current state of training in the health sector, we can imagine the admission process of universities as a cup of filter coffee, and health facilities as workers with limited time. So for a health sector that is struggling with human resources like today, is it too extravagant to wait for each drop of coffee to fall?

Hai Trieu