LAI CHAU — The VND3,000, about 18 cents a day, the provincial People’s Committee provides poor patients for food at the Muong Te medical centre in the remote highlands of Lai Chau Province, about 500km north-west of Ha Noi, is no longer sufficient.
"VND3,000 would buy a patient a simple meal seven years ago," says the centre’s deputy director Lo The Khanh.
"Now it buys just half a kilo a rice without extras."
"It’s no longer enough."
Lai Chau Health Department director Nguyen Cong Huan agrees.
The People’s Committee makes the money available from its budget because of the high poverty among the region’s mostly minority people, he says.
"But it’s not enough anymore because the cost of living gets higher by the day."
The centre’s small kitchen, where patients can use their own cooking utensils to prepare their meals, is less crowded because the patients don’t have sufficient money to buy food, says physician Sung Thi Hoa.
Some patients, who need treatment at the provincial hospital, refuse to go because they fear starving.
"We have to take them to the hospital, give them sufficient money for a few days and then bring them back," says another physician at the centre, Chu Po Xa.
Finding funds
The inadequacy of the VND3,000-a-day meal allowance for poor patients has been raised several times with the Lai Chau People’s Committee, says the province’s Health Department director Nguyen Cong Huan."But the number of poor people in the region is still very high and the People’s Committee with its limited budget can’t afford to raise the allowance," responds its deputy chairman Vuong Van Thanh.Instead, its awaiting for approval of an assistance programme funded by the European Commission."It’s possible the project could begin in July and the patients will get help for transport and more for food," he says.
Two weeks ago the physician had to deliver a young woman to the hospital for x-rays because she was afraid that she might get lost.
About 80 per cent of the centre’s patients are minority people such as La Hu and Ha Nhi.
Prime Ministerial Decision 139 of 2002 ensures that the State meets the cost of their hospital accommodation, treatment and medicine but not their food.
Overcrowding
Overcrowding has exacerbated the poor conditions at the centre with patients often two to a bed.
Usually the centre treats about 60 patients each month but that number has jumped to about 75.
"The severe cold has helped increase the numbers," says deputy director Lo The Khanh.
The centre has only eight physicians among 90 staff.
The physicians, in turn, are mostly locals who take short-term courses and return to work at the centre.
"We need a policy that will help doctors undertake further study so that they can offer better service to patients," says the deputy director Lo The Khanh.
The centre also lacks medical equipment.
It has only two ambulances – both of which have seen better days – and this makes the transport of patients very difficult.
"Old vehicles on poor roads mean higher petrol costs and the centre has to use extra money to pay for fees that are supposedly covered by health insurance," the deputy director explains.
The Muong Te District medical office opened in 1990 and became a medical centre a year later.
The State provides it VND1.7 billion ($106,250) each year but the deputy director says this is not enough to update equipment and improve staff quality.
"The centre is not a business," he says.
"Its major task is to serve the people, especially the poor patients but we need help to do our job better
"VND3,000 would buy a patient a simple meal seven years ago," says the centre’s deputy director Lo The Khanh.
"Now it buys just half a kilo a rice without extras."
"It’s no longer enough."
Lai Chau Health Department director Nguyen Cong Huan agrees.
The People’s Committee makes the money available from its budget because of the high poverty among the region’s mostly minority people, he says.
"But it’s not enough anymore because the cost of living gets higher by the day."
The centre’s small kitchen, where patients can use their own cooking utensils to prepare their meals, is less crowded because the patients don’t have sufficient money to buy food, says physician Sung Thi Hoa.
Some patients, who need treatment at the provincial hospital, refuse to go because they fear starving.
"We have to take them to the hospital, give them sufficient money for a few days and then bring them back," says another physician at the centre, Chu Po Xa.
Finding funds
The inadequacy of the VND3,000-a-day meal allowance for poor patients has been raised several times with the Lai Chau People’s Committee, says the province’s Health Department director Nguyen Cong Huan."But the number of poor people in the region is still very high and the People’s Committee with its limited budget can’t afford to raise the allowance," responds its deputy chairman Vuong Van Thanh.Instead, its awaiting for approval of an assistance programme funded by the European Commission."It’s possible the project could begin in July and the patients will get help for transport and more for food," he says.
Two weeks ago the physician had to deliver a young woman to the hospital for x-rays because she was afraid that she might get lost.
About 80 per cent of the centre’s patients are minority people such as La Hu and Ha Nhi.
Prime Ministerial Decision 139 of 2002 ensures that the State meets the cost of their hospital accommodation, treatment and medicine but not their food.
Overcrowding
Overcrowding has exacerbated the poor conditions at the centre with patients often two to a bed.
Usually the centre treats about 60 patients each month but that number has jumped to about 75.
"The severe cold has helped increase the numbers," says deputy director Lo The Khanh.
The centre has only eight physicians among 90 staff.
The physicians, in turn, are mostly locals who take short-term courses and return to work at the centre.
"We need a policy that will help doctors undertake further study so that they can offer better service to patients," says the deputy director Lo The Khanh.
The centre also lacks medical equipment.
It has only two ambulances – both of which have seen better days – and this makes the transport of patients very difficult.
"Old vehicles on poor roads mean higher petrol costs and the centre has to use extra money to pay for fees that are supposedly covered by health insurance," the deputy director explains.
The Muong Te District medical office opened in 1990 and became a medical centre a year later.
The State provides it VND1.7 billion ($106,250) each year but the deputy director says this is not enough to update equipment and improve staff quality.
"The centre is not a business," he says.
"Its major task is to serve the people, especially the poor patients but we need help to do our job better
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