2019 is the year Nghe An focuses on developing primary health care.

Comrade Le Minh Thong - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee attended and directed the conference. Attending the conference at the connecting points were leaders of medical units, health departments of districts, cities, towns and health stations of communes, wards and towns.

Scene of the online conference at the Department of Health bridge. Photo: Thanh Chung

Many medical stations are degraded.

According to the health sector report, in recent years, the grassroots health network in Nghe An has been continuously strengthened and developed. Grassroots health has been active and proactive in doing a good job of preventive medicine, so there have been no major or dangerous epidemics in the province.

By the end of 2018, 90% of commune health stations in Nghe An had doctors working there. Of these, 369 doctors were on the payroll of the health stations; 435/480 communes, wards and towns met the National Criteria for Commune Health in the period 2012 - 2020; 59% of commune health stations performed 60-80% of the technical list of the basic health service package; 479/480 communes signed health insurance medical examination and treatment contracts with social insurance agencies....

Also in the past year, the number of medical examinations at the commune level was 1,926,352, accounting for 34.6% of the total number of medical examinations in the whole province.

Many commune health stations that meet the National Health Criteria have degraded. In the photo: Nghia Lac Commune Health Station, Nghia Dan District. Photo: Thanh Cuong

However, besides the successes, the grassroots healthcare system in Nghe An still has many shortcomings such as: the list of technical implementation is still low and poor; the list of drugs is monotonous; the emergency standby regime still has many shortcomings; many equipments are not put into use in time; the monitoring and management of non-communicable diseases and infectious cases have not been implemented synchronously, continuously, and have not been updated promptly.

In particular, most of the health stations after being recognized as meeting the National Criteria were no longer able to maintain the required activities such as: the activities of the Steering Committee for People's Health Care were not regular; facilities and equipment were not maintained; and human resources were not guaranteed.

Prioritize funding for primary health care

The maternity ward of Nghia Lac Commune Health Station is moldy and not sterile. Photo: Thanh Cuong

At the conference, the delegates focused on analyzing the existing problems and proposing solutions. Some key issues mentioned included the current status of communes meeting the national criteria on health; implementing activities to prevent and control non-communicable diseases in the period of 2019-2020; Project to deploy a pilot model to strengthen the capacity of grassroots health care at 6 commune health stations in Nam Dan district.

Speaking at the conference, comrade Le Minh Thong said that in 2019, Nghe An will focus on grassroots healthcare. The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Health to preside over and coordinate with departments, branches and localities to focus on implementing the goals and tasks set out in the Resolution and Decision of the Central Committee and the Action Program of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee to build and develop the grassroots healthcare network in the new situation.

Comrade Le Minh Thong - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested all levels, sectors and localities to prioritize budget allocation for grassroots healthcare. Photo: Thanh Chung

In particular, focusing on disease prevention; strictly controlling the implementation of legal regulations on food safety; improving the quality and effectiveness of primary health care by effectively implementing a pilot model to strengthen grassroots health capacity at 6 commune health stations in Nam Dan district, moving towards expanding throughout the province... effectively attracting and training human resources for grassroots health.

All levels and sectors need to prioritize allocating funding for grassroots healthcare, especially in mountainous areas; focus on building annual budget estimates to ensure 30% for the preventive healthcare system in the spirit of Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW.