To limit the decline in medical ethics.
(Baonghean)It's no exaggeration to say that some of the negative incidents discovered within the medical field have caused significant repercussions in society. Never before has medical ethics been questioned as much as it is now!
The recent corruption case in Hoai Duc, Hanoi, has prompted police intervention, and leading agencies have called for a thorough investigation. Public opinion demands strict punishment for those who violated medical ethics and acted with impunity regarding human lives. Severe penalties are needed to deter similar cases... The outcome of this case will likely be reached soon. However, a profound question arises: What is the fault of the violators, what is the fault of the management levels, and what management mechanisms are needed for the medical sector to curb the decline in medical ethics and prevent similar cases from recurring...?
If the entire population were asked for their opinion, there would be many interesting answers:
First and foremost, the healthcare sector must take responsibility and review all issues related to medical ethics education, personnel management, and professional management. The oath of medical practitioners, "A good doctor is like a loving mother," must always be reminded and serve as a guiding principle, and those lacking medical ethics must be removed from the profession. Nowhere, and no profession, requires such high responsibility and a clean conscience as the medical profession. Human resource training in the medical field needs to be reviewed and accelerated to produce more doctors and medical professionals to meet the healthcare needs of the people and to replace those with poor skills or ethics. Even the selection of students into medical schools needs to prioritize ethical standards and professional training alongside medical ethics, not just focusing on high scores as is currently the case. Graduating doctors must be the most well-rounded individuals possible.
Secondly, having a special salary and bonus policy for the medical profession is a necessary step. Currently, the general salary level for civil servants is often insufficient to live on, and most state employees have to take on extra jobs to survive. This is a painful truth that policymakers need to acknowledge objectively, seriously, and responsibly. People say, "When you're hungry, you crawl on your knees," or "desperation leads to recklessness"—this isn't entirely true for everyone, but it creates a mechanism for petty theft, which is a reality. While waiting for a sound and scientific salary policy, there needs to be a preferential policy for medical professionals, which could be called an "ethical allowance"—an allowance only for those who uphold medical ethics, and those who violate it must return it.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, is the management mechanism. Perhaps it's time to state frankly that: Health policy must be a public policy managed by the State from beginning to end, and cannot be left in its current haphazard state. A universal health insurance policy needs to be implemented soon, in which the State bears full responsibility for the health of the entire population, and health agencies are merely the implementers of public policy.
It is known that the government invests a considerable amount of taxpayers' money in the healthcare sector every year; this fund, along with the Health Insurance Fund, forms a huge sum that needs to be managed and strictly controlled to ensure that the money is truly used for the health of the people. The current management of the Health Insurance Fund (managed by the Insurance sector, disbursed by the Health sector) has raised many concerns about irregularities, signaling instability and creating loopholes for greedy and unscrupulous individuals to steal, while patients – who are also taxpayers – suffer the consequences...
"SOS! Medical ethics are deteriorating!" Hopefully, this cry for help will end soon!
Thach Anh (Hanoi)
