Accept to wait because there is no other way
The pain in the neck and back spine has lasted for many years. Ms. Nguyen Thi Chin (52 years old, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) went for a check-up at Tan Phu District Hospital (HCMC) under health insurance. Here, the doctor prescribed an MRI for Ms. Chin and gave her three options: option 1, stay in the hospital for 5 days as prescribed to receive 80% health insurance; Option 2 is a 3-day hospital stay with an MRI cost of about 1,700,000 VND; Option 3: Immediate imaging, no hospital stay required, cost of MRI is 3,000,000 VND.
“On the day of the MRI scan, the hospital announced that at 3:00 p.m., board the car with about 12 people to go to the International Neurosurgery Hospital on Luy Ban Bich Street, Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City for an MRI scan because the hospital does not have an MRI machine. ” - Ms. Chin shared.
As noted by a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper at the International Neurosurgery Hospital, there are not only patients at Tan Phu District Hospital, but also patients at Cho Ray Hospital, Thong Nhat Hospital... all They were all taken by private hospital vehicle to the hospital and waited for techniques such as CT-Scan and MRI.
Patient NTN (63 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) also had to wait with his relatives to receive CT-Scan results at the International Neurosurgery Hospital. According to the patient's family, the patient previously went to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for examination because of lung disease. However, doctors at Cho Ray Hospital said that patients waiting for CT-Scans are overloaded, they can only be done for inpatients, and there are not enough machines for outpatients, so patients will be arranged to come here for scans and scans. still receive health insurance.
According to Cho Ray Hospital, these machines are mainly from socialization (joint venture - donation association or from stimulus loans). Because there is only one working machine left, Cho Ray Hospital said it will only prioritize imaging for inpatients. Every day, if operating at full capacity (24 hours), the hospital can take more than 100 cases, depending on the type of indication, but must ensure that it is within the scope of payment by the health insurance fund (8 hours can only take pictures). 58 cases).
It's an old story but I don't know when it will end
Not only the problem of CT-Scan, MRI has made patients and the whole hospital self-managed for many years. PET/CT scanning technique (a high-end imaging diagnostic technique that helps to see images and metabolic activities of tumors in the body more accurately than other imaging techniques) is also currently overloaded. .
The entire southern region currently has 3 facilities licensed by the Ministry of Health to perform this technique: Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City Cho Ray Hospital and 175 Military Hospital.
Recorded at Military Hospital 175, over the past years, the radioactive sources used to perform PET/CT techniques have been transferred by the hospital to Cho Ray Hospital to take scans for patients, but the number of scans is still modest. cost.
Depending on the time, the patient may have a PET/CT scan or have to wait for the radioactive drug supply. Because even at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, one of two units licensed by the Ministry of Health to produce this source of radioactive drugs in Ho Chi Minh City, it is also having to operate at a leisurely pace due to overload.
The remaining licensed radiopharmaceutical production unit is Rang Dong Medical Joint Stock Company, which can produce and supply 18F-FDG radiopharmaceuticals. However, the radioactive drug production system considered "the most modern in Southeast Asia" is still unable to produce drugs due to many legal problems.
Faced with the situation of many patients waiting in long lines to undergo PET/CT surgery, the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City sent an official dispatch to the Ministry of Science and Technology and the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City stating that the radioactive drug 18F-FDG has a long lifespan. short (less than 12 hours) and short half-life (about 110 minutes), so use must be carried out immediately after production.
Transporting drugs from other localities to Ho Chi Minh City for use is not feasible. Therefore, hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City can only produce drugs themselves or buy drugs from manufacturing units or transfer them from hospitals with production capabilities in the area.
Oncology Hospital is implementing PET/CT method to diagnose cancer and some other diseases. However, the supply of 18F-FDG drug for PET/CT imaging diagnosis is often interrupted because the Oncology Hospital cannot yet produce 18F-FDG drug itself. The hospital is developing a project to equip the Cyclotrons system at the hospital to autonomously supply the drug 18F-FDG.
In Ho Chi Minh City, only Cho Ray Hospital is producing and can transfer the drug 18F-FDG to the Oncology Hospital, but the production capacity does not meet the needs of both hospitals. Rang Dong Medicine Joint Stock Company - Branch in Ho Chi Minh City currently does not produce drugs to supply.
According to a report from Rang Dong Medicine Joint Stock Company - Branch in Ho Chi Minh City, the company has not been able to put the production line into operation.
To ensure the supply of 18F-FDG medicine, the Department of Health proposes: Ministry of Science and Technology, Center for Research and Implementation of Radiation Technology - Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute to support and coordinate the implementation of Legal procedures to put the factory of Rang Dong Medicine Joint Stock Company in Thu Duc City into operation.
The City People's Committee considers and directs relevant departments and branches to support Rang Dong Medicine Joint Stock Company in finding a location to build a new factory to produce radioactive drugs in the near future.
The leader is responsible for any lack of medicine, supplies, or medical equipment at the place under his/her management
According to Deputy Minister of Health Le Duc Luan (Ministry of Health), to ensure medicine, medical supplies, and medical equipment to serve medical examination and treatment, the ministry requests the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities Direct the heads of medical facilities under their management to carry out full responsibilities in selecting contractors, ensuring enough drugs, chemicals, testing supplies, medical equipment and services. Other related services for medical examination and treatment.
Units promote and strictly manage the organization of procurement and bidding, ensuring openness, transparency, efficiency, and avoiding waste. At the same time, take responsibility if there is a shortage of drugs, chemicals, testing supplies, medical equipment and related services at medical facilities under management.
The Ministry also requested the People's Committees of provinces and cities to direct the Department of Health and local-level centralized procurement units to synthesize the need for procurement of drugs, medical supplies, and medical equipment in the list of local-level centralized procurement. method according to regulations.
There is a noticeable reduction in workload when the hospital expands medical examination hours
At Bach Mai Hospital, patients who come for examination in the evening receive better service and do not have to wait in long lines like before.
According to the leaders of Bach Mai Hospital, when coming for after-hours examination, patients still receive full service like daytime examination and treatment; Most importantly, the costs do not change.
The hospital is fully equipped with clinics and specialties such as during office hours including: Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Musculoskeletal, Neurology, Respiratory, Nephrology, Urology, Cardiology, Infectious Diseases, Hematology, Resuscitation Surgery, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, ENT, Maxillofacial, Eye... All clinics are located in the same K1 building, very convenient for people to move around.
Imaging, ultrasound, endoscopy, testing rooms... are centrally located on the 2nd and 3rd floors of building K1, very convenient for patients.
According to doctors, for patients who have blood tests, scans, ultrasounds, etc., full results will be available in just 2 hours. As for the case of just regular ultrasound and X-ray, after only 1 hour there will be enough results for the doctor to conclude and prescribe medication.
From the beginning of 2024 until now, the hospital has opened and put into use a series of modern medical equipment systems including 4 magnetic resonance imaging machines, 3 multi-sequence computed tomography machines, 19 internal medicine systems. digestive endoscopy, 7 endoscopic surgery systems...
All of this equipment will be purchased by the end of 2023, after a series of policies to remove difficulties for the health sector from the Government and the Ministry of Health such as Resolution 30, Circular 14 and Decree 07. .
The hospital also purchased 4 more magnetic resonance imaging machines. With a total of 7 magnetic resonance imaging machines operating at the same time, patients scheduled for an MRI scan can basically get their scans the same day without having to wait.
Hoai Linh
