Ms. Ha Thi Loan (name changed) - a medical staff at a district hospital in Thai Binh - said that currently, the on-duty allowance and preferential allowance for medical staff are still low.
"The medical profession is inherently very hard, and the benefits are still low. Currently, the hospital where I work has implemented autonomy, and if we want to improve the lives of our employees, we must have a stable source of income. If we want medical staff to provide good service, we must ensure their lives so that they can work with peace of mind," said Ms. Loan.
According to the female medical worker, she is paid more than 100,000 VND for one night of emergency duty. She hopes that in 2025, medical workers will receive an increase in on-duty pay.
"I understand that the National Assembly has decided not to increase the base salary in 2025. Therefore, to improve income, allowances need to increase," Loan expressed her wish.
Having been a nurse for over 17 years, this female nurse earns 10 million VND/month. With this amount of money, along with her husband's salary, she has to spend frugally to ensure the family's living expenses.
Mr. Phan Van Chuyen - Head of Kim Chung Commune Health Station (Dong Anh District, Hanoi) - shared that in 2025, he hopes that medical staff, especially at the grassroots level, will soon have more incentives.
Currently, staff at the station receive 18,600 VND for 24 hours of duty. Mr. Chuyen expressed his wish that the duty regime and on-duty pay at the commune health station be applied like that of the hospital.
According to him, the health station currently has a one-person duty system. In cases where emergency treatment is not timely, he hopes to have a two-person duty system. The commune health station also needs security guards and cleaners. "Currently, the staff at the health station have to do both security and cleaning work," Mr. Chuyen reflected.
Regarding preferential allowances for professions, Mr. Chuyen suggested that for medical facilities from district medical centers down, there should be preferential policies to attract human resources, otherwise it will be very difficult to attract doctors at grassroots medical facilities.
Mr. Chuyen said that medical staff at the station are currently receiving a 40% preferential allowance. He hopes that the occupational allowance will increase in the near future so that the income of medical staff, especially those at the grassroots level, can increase.
Speaking to reporters, Ms. Pham Thanh Binh - President of the Vietnam Medical Trade Union - emphasized that over the years, the Vietnam Medical Trade Union has always proposed increasing allowances for medical staff to contribute to improving their income and life, helping them to be more committed to their profession.
Ms. Pham Thanh Binh said that if the special allowance regime is approved before February 27, 2025, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Vietnamese Doctors' Day, it will be a very meaningful event to encourage, recognize, and motivate medical staff to continue to confidently commit to and contribute to the work of taking care of people's health, especially when their work is increasingly under new pressures.
Currently, the preferential allowance regime according to profession for civil servants and public employees working at public health facilities is stipulated in Decree No. 56/2011/ND-CP effective from August 19, 2011.
Meanwhile, the special allowance regime for civil servants, public employees, and workers in public health facilities and the anti-epidemic allowance regime are regulated under Decision No. 73/2011/QD-TTg effective from February 15, 2012.
