Efforts to overcome difficulties at Nghe An Dermatology Hospital

The hospital owes 13 months' worth of salaries.

Recently, Ms. NT has been working atNghe An Dermatology HospitalThey reported to Nghe An Newspaper and radio and television about the difficulties faced by workers at the unit.

Ms. NT stated: "To date, the hospital owes employees 13 months' salary. Employees have not received any bonuses for holidays or Tet (Lunar New Year). Our lives are very difficult and challenging."

According to Ms. NT, the hospital also has a fairly large number of patients. Each day, there are between 70 and 120 patients coming for examinations and tests. However, due to a lack of equipment, the hospital can only provide simple technical services, resulting in low revenue. Employees still have to work the required number of hours; clock in four times a day; and only go home after all patients have been seen, but they don't receive any salary.

It is known that,Nghe An Dermatology HospitalCurrently, the hospital has 2 functional departments, 2 clinical departments, and 2 paraclinical departments. The total number of staff working at the hospital is 33 people.

At this time, the hospital only provides outpatient examination and treatment services; it has not yet implemented contracts for health insurance coverage or organized inpatient treatment at the hospital.

The reason for the prolonged delay in salary and allowance payments at Nghe An Dermatology Hospital is that revenue is insufficient to cover expenses. From 2022 to the end of June 2025, the hospital's operating budget depended entirely on revenue generated from its own activities. The state budget only provided some funding for disease prevention and minor repairs.

The hospital's revenue primarily comes from fees for medical examination and treatment services that are not covered by health insurance.

In the first six months of 2025 alone, the total number of patients examined was 18,299; the revenue from medical examination and treatment services was 1.862 billion VND, and the hospital still owes nearly 4.7 billion VND.

Many difficulties and obstacles

In response to the difficulties faced by the Nghe An Dermatology Hospital, on July 7, 2025, Mr. Bui Dinh Long, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, held a working session with the Health Department and the hospital.

During the meeting, representatives from the Nghe An Dermatology Hospital reported in detail on the difficulties they are facing, including: The hospital's existing equipment was purchased when it was still the Leprosy and Dermatology Prevention Center. Since its establishment, the hospital has not received any new investment or equipment, while the equipment currently in use is outdated and obsolete, with some damaged but lacking the funds for repairs.

Limited human resources, particularly in nursing, pharmacy, and accounting, have made it difficult for the hospital to meet the requirements for health insurance-covered examinations and treatments, as well as inpatient care. The Laboratory and Diagnostic Imaging Department has been established but lacks the necessary qualifications to comply with health insurance regulations. The General Treatment Department has not fully implemented the required list of medical procedures. The hospital is unable to recruit personnel as needed due to insufficient funds for operating expenses.

The lack of equipment and personnel has prevented the hospital from implementing its approved list of medical procedures, achieving only 35% of the total approved procedures. Meanwhile, the hospital leadership lacks a sense of responsibility and its management is not strict enough, leading to violations in management and operation.

To address the difficulties at Nghe An Dermatology Hospital, the Nghe An Department of Health has implemented several support solutions. In terms of personnel, the Department of Health has deployed 9 staff members from various units within the sector to provide professional support at the hospital... Under the direction of the Department of Health, several units within the sector have also offered to provide equipment support to the hospital.

During the meeting, Mr. Bui Dinh Long, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, directed several urgent solutions to be implemented at the Nghe An Dermatology Hospital. Accordingly, the Department of Health needs to instruct the hospital to review its revenue and expenditure sources, advise the leadership on effective and compliant revenue and expenditure plans, and ensure reasonable spending and appropriate policies for staff.

Following the directive of the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, pharmacist Tran Minh Tue - Deputy Director of the Department of Health, stated: From now until the end of the year, the Department of Health will focus on directing the Nghe An Dermatology Hospital to urgently resolve obstacles and promptly sign a health insurance contract with the Social Insurance agency of Nghe An province to ensure the implementation of health insurance-covered medical examination and treatment activities as soon as possible.

This includes mobilizing units and individuals to provide equipment support to the hospital; directing the Nghe An Dermatology Hospital to develop a plan to adjust and reduce the planned number of hospital beds; establishing departments suitable for dermatology specialties; improving human resources to form a diagnostic imaging team (ultrasound, X-ray) and supplementing the list of techniques... for submission to the Department of Health and the Provincial People's Committee for approval.