Ministry of Transport responds to comments on health check-ups for drivers

The policy of compulsory health examination for all drivers recently proposed by the Transport sector is considered a positive move to ensure traffic safety. However, public opinion is also concerned that allowing transport units to organize health examinations for their own drivers will not reflect the true situation and may lead to negative consequences.

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Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Transport has the following response:

According to current regulations, transport businesses are responsible for health checks for their drivers. However, in the past, health checks and control for drivers have not been given much attention by transport businesses, leading to the situation where many drivers are not in good health and still drive while using stimulants.

To improve the effectiveness of driver health examination and control, the Ministry of Transport issued Document No. 2049/GTVT-VT dated February 28, 2014 on driver health examination, strengthening the management of passenger bus stations and rectifying vehicle inspection activities.

Under the direction of the Minister of Transport, the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, the Department of Transport Health and the Departments of Transport of provinces and cities will coordinate with relevant agencies of the Ministry of Health and local Departments of Health to urge, inspect and supervise to ensure the effectiveness of health examinations for drivers.

Then, on June 4, 2014, Deputy Prime Minister - Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested the People's Committees of provinces and cities to urgently implement health checks for car drivers.

Thus, health examinations for drivers of transport businesses have been and will be inspected and monitored by relevant management agencies to ensure effectiveness and avoid negativity.

With the strong direction of the Government, the Ministry of Transport and the synchronous implementation of the Departments of Transport, the health check for drivers has initially achieved results. According to the report, by the end of June 16, 2014, all 63 provinces and cities had completed health check for 129,105 drivers, of which 1,769 drivers were found to be unfit.

Currently, the Ministry of Transport and localities are evaluating, drawing lessons and continuing to inspect, monitor and guide transport businesses to implement solutions to control drivers' health, limit the situation of drivers who are not in good health but still drive vehicles, and improve the effectiveness of health examinations for car drivers.

The Ministry of Transport is researching to soon add necessary regulations and sanctions to ensure that transport businesses strictly carry out health examinations and controls for car drivers.

According to chinhphu.vn