Increased hospital fees, but the quality of service remains unsatisfactory.

Despite the increase in hospital fees, patients still have to share beds with 3-4 people, and still have to wait in line for months for ultrasounds or CT scans; the wards lack air conditioning, and the toilets are scarce and dirty... These are the minimum services that patients hope will be improved when hospital fees increase.

However, representatives from hospitals in Hanoi all argue that increasing hospital fees does not necessarily lead to an immediate improvement in the quality of medical services.

Addressing hospital overcrowding is a difficult problem. (Photo: VNA)

It's impossible to increase it overnight.

Speaking to reporters about the issue of overcrowding and patients having to share beds, Mr. Le Van Quan, Deputy Director of K Hospital, acknowledged: "Currently, in the Internal Medicine department of the hospital, there is still a situation where 2-3, or even 4 people share a bed. It is very difficult to expect an immediate change in the quality and attitude of medical staff after adjusting hospital fees."

Regarding solutions to alleviate the current overcrowding, Mr. Quan affirmed that the issue of patients having to share beds at the Quan Su or Tam Hiep facilities cannot be resolved overnight. However, in mid-August, the hospital will open a new facility in Tan Trieu (Thanh Tri) with two internal medicine departments having approximately 20-50 beds and a surgical department with 51 beds, hopefully reducing the overcrowding situation.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives from 38 central-level hospitals on the new hospital fee rates organized by the Ministry of Health last week, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh - Director of Bach Mai Hospital - said that the quality of medical examination and treatment has not only been upgraded since the policy of adjusting hospital fees was implemented, but has also been investing in equipment and machinery and renovating the hospital for many years.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh, the increased fees will go into the state's public treasury to be reinvested in patients, not into the hospital staff's fund. Higher revenue will allow for greater reinvestment in patient care, leading to more effective treatment.

The Director of Bach Mai Hospital also added that each year, the hospital allocates 6-8 billion VND to provide free medical examinations and treatment for poor patients who cannot afford hospital fees.

Over the past two years, Bach Mai Hospital has invested 80 billion VND to upgrade its equipment, including installing air conditioning systems and purchasing additional ventilators and anesthesia machines.

Powerless to do

Mr. Nguyen Tien Quyet, Director of Viet Duc Hospital, stated that the hospital's policy is to have more service rooms, partly to increase revenue for staff and partly to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment services. However, patients cannot simply request a room; they must register two weeks in advance.

"Currently, the hospital has 1,100 beds, including 60 private rooms. Many people want to register for private rooms, but our private rooms are always fully booked; we don't have enough to meet the needs of patients," Mr. Quyet said.

According to Le Van Quan, Deputy Director of K Hospital, many patients currently require private rooms, but the hospital is unable to meet the demand.

At K Hospital, the number of private rooms is very limited. The entire hospital only has two private rooms, each with 8 beds. The price for each bed in these rooms is 150,000 VND.

Regarding the issue of on-demand medical service rooms, Mr. Quan explained that every hospital wants to create such rooms to generate funds for improvement. The difficulty for the K Hospital facility in Quan Su is that due to the limited space, the number of patient rooms cannot be expanded further.

Most hospital leaders believe that improving the quality of medical services is not something that only happens after hospital fees are adjusted; this issue has been a long-standing concern of the healthcare sector. However, patient overcrowding continues year after year, putting pressure on the quality of medical services.

Therefore, the problem of how to improve the quality of healthcare services in line with healthcare costs cannot be solved by hospitals alone; it is a difficult problem for the entire healthcare sector.

According to Vietnam+ (NT)