The Department explained the drop of patients in hospitals and medical centers in 2020 that because people are afraid of the development of the coronavirus pandemic.

Specifically, the number of outpatients and inpatients in 2020 fell by 20.8 percent to 4.2 million people compared with 2019. Total number of inpatients and outpatients in the whole year decreased by 16.3 percent to 419,000 patients.

According to Associate Professor Tang Chi Thuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Health, the coronavirus pandemic will still develop complicatedly ; therefore, the policies of health insurance linkage at provincial level must take effect to reduce the pressure on big medical facilities in Ho Chi Minh City.

Moreover, the insurance agency has not paid all expenses to hospitals and hospitals must be self-financing in the following years. Public hospitals will face difficulties and challenges.

Accordingly, the health sector in the city petitioned the municipal People’s Committee to consult the government to have special policies to support public hospitals.