Being owed salary and allowances
In the days leading up to the Binh Ngo Lunar New Year, many doctors and medical staff in Ca Mau are owed salaries and allowances. The situation of medical staff being owed salaries is not this year but has been going on for many years before. It was not resolved until the days leading up to Tet. This year is also the same, many medical staff at Phuoc Long Regional Medical Center are so upset that they threatened not to be on duty during Tet to be paid 3 months' salary right on the Tet holiday.
More than 100 medical staff and employees have been continuously delayed in paying salaries for many months. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan (name changed) said that although she still works full-time, on night shifts, and on holiday shifts, her income is not paid on time. In the context of high prices at the end of the year, salary arrears have made her life difficult.
According to feedback from the grassroots level, many medical staff have to borrow money to cover living expenses, tuition fees for children, and travel expenses when working. There are cases where both husband and wife work in the medical industry and are owed salaries, creating great financial pressure.
Before the reflection of workers and the involvement of press agencies, the health sector and local authorities in Ca Mau have implemented a number of temporary solutions to stabilize the psychology of the medical team before the Tet holiday.
Some health centers have been allocated advance funds to pay salaries and basic allowances to officials and medical staff in the last working days of the year. Some units have paid off about three months of outstanding salaries, helping workers to feel somewhat secure in welcoming Tet.
When will the wage debt be paid off?
This payment is only partially resolved, other income items such as on-call money, overtime pay, technical allowances, and travel expenses have not been fully paid and continue to accumulate after Tet. This shows that financial difficulties of health units have not been thoroughly resolved.
Leaders of Phuoc Long Regional Medical Center admitted that salary debt stems from the imbalance between revenue and expenditure. In the context that public health units implement financial autonomy mechanisms, revenue from medical examination and treatment services does not meet expectations, while salary and allowance costs increase according to the salary reform roadmap, causing many units to fall into a passive position.
Prolonged financial pressure can reduce motivation to work, increase the risk of resigning, transferring jobs, especially at the grassroots healthcare level - where there is already a shortage of human resources.
Mr. Trinh Trung Kien - Deputy Director of Ca Mau Provincial Social Insurance - said that social insurance does not owe payments to medical facilities. The 10% amount retained in social insurance advances is according to regulations. On the other hand, in Ca Mau, many medical facilities requesting payments exceeding the actual amount are waiting for the Ministry of Health and Vietnam Social Insurance to resolve with a large amount of money.
The practical operation of medical facilities has been monitored many times by the Ca Mau Provincial People's Council, and many opinions have been raised to remove difficulties. Many opinions suggest that fundamental solutions are needed soon to remove financial difficulties for public health units. In which, it is necessary to review the autonomy mechanism, ensure that the budget source pays salaries and allowances on time; and at the same time adjust medical service prices to suit actual costs. Ensuring stable income for medical staff is not only a labor security issue but also an important condition to retain human resources and improve the quality of the health system.
