February 27 this year marks a special milestone: The 70th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's letter to the health sector with a profoundly oriented advice: "Building a healthcare that is suitable for the needs of our people, must be based on the principles of science, ethnicity and the masses".
Looking back at the 70-year journey, it is clear to see the maturity and growth in all aspects of Vietnamese healthcare. The grassroots health network has been widely built, bringing health care services to remote areas.
intensive medical centers with high technology have also developed strongly. Many of Vietnam's medical achievements have left their mark on the world map, and have been highly appreciated by international friends and colleagues.
This proves that the health sector has partly realized Uncle Ho's vision: smoothly combining scientific factors (high professional qualifications, application of modern technology) with national identity (promoting traditional medicine, towards Vietnamese culture and customs) and especially the masses (all people have the right to fair and humane access to healthcare).
However, as General Secretary To Lam said recently on the occasion of Vietnamese Doctors' Day, we are still concerned about things that we cannot do, especially Uncle Ho's desire to "build a health system suitable for the needs of our people".
General Secretary To Lam outlined 12 solutions that are orientative for the health sector. In particular, the requirement to "Innovating the thinking of the health sector" is prominent: Instead of only considering health as a place for "examination and treatment", it is necessary to pay more attention to "health care" in a broader way, prioritize disease prevention, improve people's physical condition and practice a healthy lifestyle.
"Scientific, ethnic and mass" healthcare requires comprehensive service capacity, not only treating patients but also prolonging life, meeting the different needs of the people - from reproductive health, pediatrics to geriatrics, from disease prevention to high-tech development.
And the most core thing is that the medical profession is not "selling" and the patient is not "customer" or "king". They are people who need support to recover from their illness or reduce difficulties due to illness. On the contrary, doctors are not " machicists", but those who are dedicated to helping patients maintain and restore their health.
In particular, we need to clearly distinguish between basic health care (primactive health care) and high-tech healthcare, to have a reasonable budget investment policy and appropriate socialization mechanism.
From there, it is possible to limit the overload situation at the upper and lower levels without payment for doctors' salaries due to lack of patients, unhealthy competition and " triangle conflicts" between patients - hospitals - insurance, as has happened in the past.
Innovation in thinking and comprehensive recognition of "people's health" will help Vietnamese healthcare rise up, continuing to write achievements towards the most important goal, which is that all people enjoy a fair, quality and humane healthcare system.
