Socialization of primary health care: Experience in Quy Chau

(Baonghean) - With the goal of improving the quality of medical examination and treatment for grassroots medical facilities, in recent years, the Health sector of Quy Chau district has determined to promote socialization, creating "leverage" for medical facilities to overcome difficulties and rise to meet standards.

Quy Chau district currently has 6/12 commune and town health stations that have reached the national standards for commune health in the period 2011 - 2020, ranking among the top of the mountainous districts in the West of Nghe An. In particular, Chau Binh Commune Health Station is one of the typical standard health facilities. Although it is a commune in the outskirts of the district, it has a large population and a high poverty rate (45.6% in 2014). Many years ago, health care for the people faced many difficulties; the health station's facilities were seriously degraded, causing inconvenience to people when visiting and examining patients, and somewhat affecting the reputation and quality of treatment.

Staff of Chau Thuan Commune Health Station (Quy Chau) instruct people on how to use medicine.

With the determination to overcome difficulties, along with the efforts and dynamism of the Party Committee, local authorities, the attention and investment of all levels and sectors, Chau Binh Commune Health Station has been gradually invested. Ms. Tran Thi Nhi - Head of Chau Binh Commune Health Station said that the people in the commune are still poor, but with the way of doing things that pleases the people, the policy of socializing the reconstruction of the health station has been supported by the people. The commune government and station officials go to each village and hamlet to mobilize people and at the same time attract other capital sources to invest in equipment, medical examination and treatment tools... In just a short time, the appearance of the health station has changed. Now, the commune health station shines with a spacious appearance with 2 working floors, a multi-field house, a pharmacy, and a housing area dedicated to doctors and nurses; a series of new advanced equipment has been invested in, well meeting the needs of medical examination and treatment of frontline medical facilities such as electrocardiographs, blood glucose meters...

In addition to investing in upgrading facilities, the white-coated people in that remote area also focus on improving the quality of medical examination and treatment, promoting propaganda, changing health awareness for the local community; at the same time, strengthening propaganda to all people about the importance of frontline medical facilities. The area is large, the population is not concentrated, so Chau Binh Commune Health Station always maintains close ties with the medical collaborators, regularly organizes talks and propaganda sessions integrated into conferences and meetings of the local people. "Slow and steady wins the race", up to now, Chau Binh commune has pushed back many backward customs, the rate of people coming to the health station for medical examination and treatment has increased every year. On average, 6,000 people/year come for medical examination and treatment, the rate of referral to higher levels has not increased, demonstrating the increasingly high professional capacity of the medical staff of Chau Binh Commune Health Station. Thanks to that, Chau Binh Commune Health Station became the first station in the whole district to meet the standards of the National Criteria for Commune Health in the period 2011 - 2020 and has maintained the title until now. "Socialization not only focuses on investing in facilities, but socialization is also the spread and understanding of the community about the important role of health care in the quality of life" - Station Head Tran Thi Nhi affirmed.

Visiting Chau Thuan Commune Health Station happened when the station's doctors were examining pregnant women on a regular schedule. Looking at the kindness, the caring questions of the doctors and nurses at the station and the trusting smiles of the pregnant women, it was easy to feel the solid peace of mind in this medical facility. Ms. Luong Thi Mai (Chieng village, Chau Thuan) shared: "Now, if I have any illness, I go to the commune health station, I don't stay at home and treat it with wild plants. The clinic is clean, spacious, medicines are distributed and instructions are given enthusiastically, the villagers trust the doctors and nurses very much!"

It is hard to imagine that, just a few years ago, Chau Thuan was one of the "low spots" in terms of health care in Quy Chau district, when the physical facilities of the commune health station were seriously degraded, the quality of doctors and nurses was limited, and local people did not have the habit of going to the health station for examination and treatment, etc. Recognizing the inevitable progress of grassroots health care, along with the "support" of the consensus and cooperation of the Party Committee and the local government, Chau Thuan Commune Health Station has made efforts to overcome difficulties with many solutions. Mr. Tran Xuan Hoa - Head of Chau Thuan Commune Health Station said: In 2013, thanks to the commune budget and the district's project, 2 blocks of the station were built. On the other hand, the people of the commune voluntarily contributed 2,000 VND/person, as well as contributed working days to level the construction site; each medical staff also contributed 100,000 VND/month to buy medicine and medical equipment.

The biggest difficulty for Chau Thuan in the process of building the standard station is the environmental sanitation criteria, because the habit of living and raising livestock and poultry causes environmental pollution, hiding many risks of disease. Faced with that problem, the local Party Committee and government have called for clean water projects from the Clean Water and Environmental Protection Fund. Along with that, the health station pays attention to the work of mobilizing and explaining, along with organizing periodic sanitation activities every week and every month, integrating environmental indicators into the work of organizations such as women, youth, the elderly, etc. Up to now, the whole commune has 94.6% of households using clean water, 85% of households using clean toilets, village roads and alleys are clean and tidy. All of those "small efforts make a big difference" have created the appearance of the commune health station as spacious, clean and beautiful as it is today. By 2014, Chau Thuan Commune Health Station had firmly reached the finish line of the National Criteria for Commune Health in the period 2011 - 2020.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dinh, Deputy Director of Quy Chau District Health Center, said that the consistent viewpoint of the district and the sector is to put the quality of grassroots health care as the top priority, as the "fulcrum" for the socio-economic development of the district. In that process, the mutual support of social work is identified as the "lever" for the progress. In the coming time, Quy Chau District Health sector sets the goal of "sprinting" to meet the standards of the National Criteria for Commune-level Health, striving to reach 70% of the communes by the end of 2015.

Phuong Chi