The regime for medical staff is not commensurate with the work.
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan once shared at the Annual Conference of the Hospital Directors Club of Northern Provinces: the 24-hour on-call allowance for doctors and nurses is very low and inappropriate while the study and training time is longer than other professions. The on-call allowance for medical staff is very low, established many years ago, and is no longer appropriate.
According to the latest regulations, to be granted a practicing certificate, a doctor must spend up to 6 years studying at a medical university and at least 12 months practicing. Meanwhile, for a whole day and night of hard work, doctors at a class I or special hospital (such as Viet Duc Friendship, Bach Mai, Thai Nguyen Central, Hue Central, Cho Ray...) only receive 115,000 VND. A 12-hour night shift of a doctor at a class III hospital (usually at the district level) only receives more than 30,000 VND, not enough to buy a bowl of pho at current prices.
The petition was made by voters in Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Lang Son provinces... when reflecting on issues related to the health sector after the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly. Accordingly, voters in Ha Giang province reflected that the current low on-duty allowance regime does not ensure life, directly affecting the quality of performing tasks. Specifically, the on-duty salary of commune health station staff is currently 18,750 VND/night on weekdays, 32,500 VND on weekends, and 15,000 VND/night for meals.
Voters recommend that the Ministry of Health increase the daily allowance and meal allowance to 100,000 VND/night; and 150,000 VND/night on weekends. Increase the holiday allowance from 45,000 VND to 200,000 VND/night. Meal allowance on weekends and holidays from 15,000 VND to 150,000 VND/day.
In addition, allowances for medical staff in general are currently low, and voters have proposed to increase them. Over the past 12 years, the basic salary has been adjusted 8 times, currently 2,340,000 VND/month, but the allowances for surgery, procedures, and meals have not been adjusted accordingly.
In 2022, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the Ministry of Health said that reports from provinces, cities and public service units under the Ministry of Health on the number of medical staff who quit their jobs from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 nationwide showed that 9,680 medical staff applied to quit their jobs. The reasons given by the Ministry of Health were work pressure, income, pressure from lack of conditions and facilities to perform professional tasks, pressure from society, family and relatives.
Ministry of Health proposes to increase allowances
The Ministry of Health is drafting a Prime Minister's Decision stipulating a number of special allowance regimes for civil servants, public employees, and workers in public health facilities and anti-epidemic allowance regimes.
The Ministry of Health said that currently, the allowance levels: regular allowance, surgery and procedure allowance, epidemic prevention allowance and food allowance for subjects applied in Decision No. 73/2011/QD-TTg dated December 28, 2011 of the Prime Minister are too low and no longer suitable for the current economic and living situation.
According to the Ministry of Health, based on the time of application of the basic salary: basic salary of 830,000 VND from May 1, 2011 (Decree No. 22/2011/ND-CP) to now basic salary of 2,340,000 VND from July 1, 2024 (Decree No. 73/2024/ND-CP) (increase of 182%), the Ministry of Health estimates the direct allowance and support level.
