At the end of 2009, the MoH's leadership presided over the technical workshop on preventive medicine activities of the northern provinces in Ha Noi capital and of the southern provinces in Ho Chi Minh city. The preventive health is awaiting the changes in human resource and allowance regulations for officials in the new year so as to carry out the duty of the people's health care and protection better.
Real situation?
According to MoH's remarks, at present, the staff of the preventive medicine at communal and provincial level is still deficient in both quantity and quality. There are just a few doctors with speciality at level 2 or medical doctor of philosophy and a considerable dearth of postgraduate staff working at the provincial preventive medicine centers and communal health centers. Personnel structure is still not logical; many members of staff have the specialities not suitable with the work requirement and have no enthusiasm and attachment to the preventive medicine at grassroots level.
The organisational structure of the preventive medicine at localities according to the MoH's regulation at provincial level included centres of preventive medicine, HIV/AIDS control, malaria, parasitic and vector-borne diseases control (in provinces classified as severely-hit areas of malaria), health quarantine (in provinces having international border gate), environmental and labour health protection and food safety agency and so on. At districts/cities level, the health centers which have no conditions to be seperated into private hospitals yet can undertake two functions simultaneously: medical examination and treatment and preventive medicine. To localities which are capable of establishing hospitals for diagnosing and treating diseases, the health centers should be consolidated for the single function of the preventive health. Medical stations at communes, wards, towns are the first line technical units directly under the management of health centres. At present, all over the country, 79.18% health centres has carried out just the funtion of the preventive medicine, the rest (20.82%), due to not be seperated yet, conduct both medical examination and treatment and preventive medicine. To any structure, the number of officials in the field of preventive medicine is not enough compared with the regulation.
Although the regulations on allowance for preventive medicine officials in the last time have been payed attention, such as allowance in terms of over-frame seniority, plurality of leadership position, areas, exception, attraction, mobility, noxiousness, danger and specific allowance according to job/occupation characteristic, etc., they didn't fascinate staff serving in the preventive medicine as much as the staff working in hospitals.  |
Although the regulations on allowance for preventive medicine officials have been
payed attention, they didn't fascinate the staff serving in the preventive medicine
as much as the staff working in hospitals.
(Courtesy: suckhoedoisongonline) |
Solution !
From difficulties confronting the preventive medicine currently, the MoH is considering the satisfactory attractive policies for offcials, especially doctors working in this sector. Setting up priority policies in the recruitment and training for students pursuing doctorship in the field of the preventive medicine so that they can orient and make a right choice in their future jobs, since then have a voluntary and prolonged attachment to the profession after graduating. Adjusting to raise the enrolment norms and lower requirement marks; extending types and forms of training. Due to the particularity of the preventive medicine, apart from the recruitment of doctors graduating from medical universities, it is necessary to recruit more expertise candidates graduating from universities, colleges, technical secondary schools in the field of chemistry, biology, food technology and another speciality to be able to undertake the doctoral position, but ensuring the preventive medicine's requirement. Several allowance regulations for preventive medicine staff which are presently not suitable such as anti-outbreak allowance, profession incentive allowance, etc., should be examined, modified and completed in order to encourage officials in their assignments and attract human resources serving in the preventive health in the coming time; the allowance of over-frame seniority should be also implemented, so that preventive medicine staff could keep their mind on the work and have a long attachment to this profession. Practically, in the past time, several officials in the preventive medicine has managed to switched to the treating network, including experienced and senoir staff because the treating system enjoy more preferential regulations than the preventive medicine. So as to give the suitable adjustment solutions, it is expected to raise the general and anti-outbreak allowance three-fold compared with the present regulations; the profession incentive allowance should also be increased to higher rate, fluctuating from 20% to 70% according to the job's types of different fieds in the preventive health; especially it should be have the allowance for the managing and service staff who have not be supported before.
Expectation...
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Assoc.prof. Trinh Quan Huan-Deputy Minister of MoH in his speech at the workshop. |
With the proposals and solutions of the MoH to human resource and regulations/policies of the preventive medicine brought out at the technical workshop on the preventive medicine, presided over by Dr. Nguyen Quoc Trieu - Minister of MoH and Assoc.prof. Trinh Quan Huan - Deputy Minister of MoH in the North and the South, the preventive medicine staff from all over the country feels heartened due to this special interest. Hoping that the proposals and solutions of the MoH will be soon examined and approved by the Prime Minister and government relevant authorities to come into effect. on the threshold of 2010 - the year of the tiger, hoping that the preventive health will have new changes and together with the treatment system effectively carry out the political duty of taking care of and protecting the people's health in the new situation.