Leaders of Nghe An province attending the meeting included comrades: Nguyen Duc Trung - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Van Thong - former Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, delegate of the Provincial People's Council; Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Chairwoman of the Provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee and comrades of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Council, Provincial People's Committee, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation.

Comrades: Hoang Nghia Hieu - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council chaired the meeting.

Nghe An Provincial People's Council questioned groups of issues on solutions to implement targets, quality of cultural villages, hamlets, and blocks; the rate of communes, wards, and towns with cultural and sports institutions meeting the criteria according to regulations and set targets.

Within the scope of management of the Culture sector, the Provincial People's Council also questioned the management of outdoor advertising activities; the construction of a cultural environment associated with the construction, completion and promotion of the identity of Nghe An people; and the development of cultural industry in the province.

There are still 15 commune-level units without cultural houses.

The rate of cultural villages, hamlets, and blocks and the rate of communes, wards, and towns with cultural and sports institutions meeting the criteria prescribed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism are 2/21 main targets for socio-economic development in the 5-year period 2021 - 2025 that Nghe An included in the Resolution of the Provincial People's Council from the beginning of the term.

Up to now, the rate of cultural villages, hamlets and blocks in Nghe An has reached 69.8% (term target 71-73%) and 79.3% of communes, wards and towns have cultural and sports institutions meeting the criteria set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (term target 82%).

Data from the Department of Culture and Sports shows that, up to now, the whole province still has 15/460 commune-level units without cultural houses. Of the 445 localities that have cultural houses, 403 localities have cultural houses that meet the standards prescribed by the Ministry.

Besides, there are still 22 localities that do not have sports areas; the remaining 438 localities that have sports areas, of which 394 communes, wards and towns have sports areas that meet the standards prescribed by the Ministry.

The whole province has 222 typical cultural models recognized at the provincial level, 4,025 mass art troupes; 737,186/851,151 families recognized as Cultural Families (reaching 87%); 446/460 communes, wards, and towns, 3,516/3,804 residential areas, meeting the standards of "Security and order safety"; 1,767 agencies, units, and enterprises meeting cultural standards, 787 clans recognized as Cultural Clans.

Besides the main achievements, the construction of cultural life in residential areas is also facing challenges.certain difficulties.

According to the Department of Culture and Sports, many cultural institutions in some localities are degraded, small in scale, and lack operating equipment; socio-economic conditions in many localities are still difficult, so the mobilization of resources to contribute to the construction of grassroots cultural and sports institutions is still limited, especially in mountainous ethnic minority areas and post-merger areas.

The positivity, proactiveness and voluntariness of a part of the people in participating in the movement of National Solidarity in Building a Cultural Life associated with building a grassroots cultural environment in some places is still low.

In some localities, crime, social evils, domestic violence, school violence, child abuse, environmental pollution... have not been resolved; ethics, lifestyles, and ways of life show signs of being unhealthy.

Messy classified ads

Nghe An has approved the planning of the outdoor advertising and propaganda system in the province for the period 2016 - 2025 and issued regulations on the construction and installation of outdoor advertising and propaganda facilities.

According to statistics, there are currently more than 90 advertising businesses and establishments in the province; their activities are mainly concentrated in Vinh city and on National Highway 1A, as well as in densely populated areas of towns and townships.

However, this activity has raised some problems that many voters and people have reflected on, such as:Expired billboards that are not removed cause loss of urban beauty; advertising not in accordance with planning; classified ads written or drawn on fences, electric poles...

However, the authorities are having difficulty in handling advertising units in other provinces that refuse to remove advertising media after the deadline; advertising using audio in the inner city and inner town on mobile means such as using motorbikes and bicycles to advertise in alleys, installing signs and billboards in front of business establishments, posting classified ads, etc.

There are no appropriate mechanisms and policies to develop cultural industry.

Nghe An has implemented the Strategy for developing Vietnam's cultural industries to 2020, with a vision to 2030 in the province to exploit economic potential, promote national identity, promote creativity and innovation; create momentum to promote the province's socio-economic development.

Accordingly, the province focuses on implementing activities related to cultural tourism (encouraging the development of cultural tourism types; improving infrastructure and facilities for tourism services; promoting and widely advertising cultural tourism products); at the same time, implementing many contents in the fields of: Cinema; performing arts; fine arts, photography and exhibitions; advertising.

However, according to the Department of Culture and Sports of Nghe An: The environment for developing the province's cultural industry strategy is still difficult, due to the lack of business management skills, inadequacies in creative education, and connections between networks. In particular, the province does not have appropriate mechanisms and policies to develop cultural industries.

Based on the above situation, on the morning of December 6, the Provincial People's Council questioned the Director of the Department of Culture and Sports on issues surrounding 3 related contents, aiming to achieve the above 2 important goals when there is only more than 1 year left to complete the implementation of the 5-year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021 - 2025; as well as solutions to handle shortcomings in outdoor advertising activities and have mechanisms and policies to promote the cultural industry.

46 medical examination and treatment units are autonomous at all levels

The Provincial People's Council also questioned and answered questions on a group of issues regarding the implementation of the autonomy mechanism in public hospitals in the province at present; the situation of providing medicine and medical examination and treatment services under health insurance for health insurance patients, especially patients with serious illnesses and poor patients, ethnic minority and mountainous areas; the implementation of the target on combating malnutrition in children in the province for the period 2021-2025.

Reporting to the Provincial People's Council, Ms. Le Thi Hoai Chung - Director of the Department of Health said that currently, the sector has 1 unit with autonomy in self-guaranteeing regular expenditures and investment expenditures (group I); 18 units with autonomy in self-guaranteeing regular expenditures (group II); 18 units with autonomy in self-guaranteeing part of regular expenditures (group III) and 9 units with regular expenditures guaranteed by the State.

Many hospitals have shifted from a “service” mindset to a “service provision” mindset, gradually satisfying patients. The implementation of the autonomy mechanism has helped reduce salary payments for 8,978 civil servants and employees from the annual budget, such as in 2023, it is about 1,000 billion VND.

The implementation of providing health insurance examination and treatment services for health insurance patients, especially patients with serious illnesses and poor patients, ethnic minority and mountainous areas continues to receive attention, gradually meeting the needs of patients.

In the province, there are more than 531 health examination and treatment facilities covered by health insurance covering all levels. In the Northwest and Southwest regions, there are 2 provincial general hospitals providing many essential medical services for people in mountainous areas.

In 2024 (as of November 2024), there will be more than 5.3 million health examinations and treatments covered by health insurance. The cost of medical examinations and treatments is more than VND 5,330 billion, of which health insurance covers nearly VND 4,817 billion. At 10 medical examination and treatment facilities in mountainous areas, the cost of technical services also accounts for 48% of the total cost.

The health sector has been active and proactive in implementing bidding and purchasing activities to ensure sufficient medicine for the people. Health units have closely followed regulations and have been proactive and active in planning, budgeting, and organizing bidding and purchasing.

In the first 9 months of 2024, medical facilities used 6,447 items with a total drug cost of about 928 billion VND. The bid winning rate reached over 75%, basically meeting the needs of medical examination and treatment for people.

In addition, the health sector has actively implemented synchronous solutions to improve nutrition. The annual rate of child malnutrition has gradually decreased according to plan.

Specifically, the rate of underweight malnutrition in 2021 was 15.2% down to 13.9% in 2023, and is estimated to be 13.0% in 2024, achieving the target assigned by the Provincial People's Council.

Supply of drugs and supplies in some medical facilities is still lacking.

Besides the achieved results, Director of the Department of Health Le Thi Hoai Chung said that medical examination and treatment still has certain difficulties and challenges.

The supply of drugs and materials for medical examination and treatment at some medical facilities is still lacking, affecting medical examination and treatment and the rights of patients.

Some medical facilities in mountainous areas have not yet deployed many techniques. Many units still lack human resources, facilities, and high-tech medical equipment. Overcrowding still occurs in some provincial and district hospitals.

Some leaders lack dynamism, creativity, and experience in management, while the unit must implement a financial autonomy mechanism, leading to low efficiency in implementing tasks, affecting the work of medical examination and treatment for people.

Although malnutrition rates have decreased, they remain higher than the national average, especially stunting.

According to Ms. Le Thi Hoai Chung, the health sector is currently facing a number of difficulties and challenges. The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic still affect medical examination and treatment, such as: the supply chain of drugs, materials, chemicals, and medical equipment is broken, affecting the results of procurement and bidding...

Changes in mechanisms and policies also cause some difficulties and problems, especially in bidding for drugs, equipment, and health insurance payments.

The price of medical examination and treatment services has not been calculated correctly and sufficiently; the basic salary has increased, but the price of services has not been adjusted promptly. The settlement of health insurance payments is still slow. Since the implementation of autonomy, the budget for investment in health care has decreased significantly...

While medical facilities must perform two tasks in parallel: implementing the autonomous mechanism and ensuring social security in medical examination and treatment, this causes difficulties for medical facilities.

Nghe An is a province with a high rate of malnutrition, difficult economic conditions, and some localities have not fully recognized the importance of nutrition, leading to limited investment in this field.