Shortages of Staff and Infrastructure Reported in Local Healthcare Network
Administrative reorganization and increased workloads have brought human resources, infrastructure, and equipment shortages to local health stations, making it difficult to maintain service quality.
As the local healthcare network enters a new phase following the reorganization of the administrative apparatus, human resources, infrastructure, and equipment remain limited in many health stations. Growing duties and responsibilities are complicating the operation of primary healthcare services, making the reinforcement of resources an urgent necessity.
Reorganization and the New Management Model
The local healthcare network in the province has entered a new operational phase with the restructuring of the administrative apparatus. Given the wide geographical area and significant tasks, human resources and infrastructure remain limited in many health stations.
Commune and neighborhood health stations and health workers across the province have been transferred to the management of commune-level People's Committees instead of the Ministry of Health as before. This situation brings certain difficulties in terms of facilities and equipment.
Expanding Scope of Services and Increasing Tasks
Following the reorganization, the scope of services of many health stations has expanded significantly. A typical station consists of a main center and multiple branches covering remote villages.
Health stations must simultaneously perform numerous tasks such as medical examinations, vaccinations, epidemic prevention, maternal healthcare, and chronic disease management.
Doctor Shortages and Uneven Distribution
The number of doctors working in commune and neighborhood health stations in the province is distributed unevenly across the region. A large proportion of the stations have not yet reached the targeted minimum number of doctors.
The concentration of doctors in main centers or their absence from duty stations due to reasons such as leave or training negatively affects the access of patients in remote villages to healthcare services.
Vulnerable Groups and Pressure on Higher-Level Hospitals
When healthcare centers experience staff shortages, those directly affected are the elderly, pregnant women, small children, and individuals with chronic diseases.
When there are no regularly working doctors or medicines available at the local level, patients turn to higher-level hospitals, which increases the pressure on upper-tier health facilities.
Heavy Workload Brought by New Regulations
The pressure on primary healthcare services has increased further with the entry into force of a new circular regulating the duties and powers of health stations.
According to the new regulations, the number of task groups that each health station must undertake has increased significantly compared to the past, making the workload of existing staff heavier.
Infrastructure and Equipment Inadequacies
In addition to human resources, the lack of infrastructure and equipment represents another major problem at the foundational level of healthcare services.
Existing buildings constructed at different times generally remain small in area, and there is not enough land to expand areas such as examination rooms, pharmacies, and vaccination units.