The Ministry of Health will invest more for medical sector in the Central Highlands where there is short of personnel and medical equipment severely.
At a meeting in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak on January 27 held by the ministry and the Steering Committee for Affairs in the Central Highlands, participants said that there have been limitation in healthcare in the region.
As per the Ministry’s figure, population in the region has decreased from 2.35 percent in 2000 to 1.7 percent in 2010 and 1.64 percent in 2013 but it is also higher than the country’s. Most of healthcare index is lower than the country’s average figure.
By statistics in 2013, the average life expectancy of inhabitants in the region is 69.5 while it is 73.1 in the whole country; the rate of under five year old children’s malnutrition is 33 percent while the country’s is 26 percent; the rate of mortality of children below one year old over 1,000 children is 39.8 percent while it is 21.1 percent in the country.
Furthermore, clean water supply and environment hygiene is worse than the other regions. The medical services are weaker; serious shortage of personnel and equipment in medical sector have seen meanwhile investment in the sector is limited than other regions across the country.
Accordingly, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that the government has asked to strengthen grass-root medical units and develop medical clinics in communes and districts in the region. The sector must implement synchronous measures to promote medical growth and healthcare services to improve residents’ health condition by calling for social contributions. The government plans that most of medical clinics in communes will have doctors.
The Ministry and authorities in the region petitioned the government to pay more attention to the medical sector by investing in hospital projects in the period 2011-2016.
