Review to arrange in the right place
On September 10, in an exchange with Lao Dong Newspaper, Ms. Diep Thi Minh Quyet - Director of Quang Tri Provincial Department of Health said that the sector is continuing to review human resources at each level and each unit to have plans to arrange suitable for the needs of people's medical examination, treatment and health care.
According to Ms. Quyet, the problem is not only in the total number of doctors to be supplemented but also in the distribution of human resources between localities, treatment levels and specialties.
Currently, some areas such as mountainous areas and some other areas are still lacking general practitioners. In addition, specialties such as emergency resuscitation, general anesthesia and resuscitation, pathology, tuberculosis, psychiatry, infectious diseases, and geriatrics are also in the group that needs to continue to be strengthened in personnel.
According to the Project on attracting, treating, and training doctor human resources for the period 2026-2030 of the Quang Tri Health sector, the reality of doctor shortage is uneven between regions. High-quality human resources tend to be concentrated in provincial hospitals and urban areas such as Dong Hoi, Dong Ha, while grassroots levels and mountainous areas are more difficult to attract doctors.
Another pressure is that current human resources will continue to fluctuate in the coming years. In the 2026-2030 period, the entire industry is expected to have 56 doctors retire, with 17 cases at the commune level alone.
Meanwhile, the province's goal by 2030 is to reach 13 doctors/ten thousand people and ensure that 100% of commune and ward health stations have 4-5 doctors working. Therefore, the problem posed is not only to recruit more people but also to have policies capable of attracting and retaining doctors in places that are lacking.
Policy goes into groups
One of the key solutions that has been implemented is the resolution of the Quang Tri Provincial People's Council on supporting the attraction, treatment, training and rotation, and strengthening health human resources at public health non-business units in the period 2026-2030.
Accordingly, the level of support for attracting students is designed according to qualifications and workplace. Professors and associate professors are supported with 500 million VND; Doctors of Medicine, specialists level II and equivalent qualifications are supported with 400 million VND; resident doctors are supported with 350 million VND.
Master of Medicine, specialist doctor I and equivalent qualifications, general practitioner of regular system graduating with excellent grades are supported with 300 million VND.
For general practitioners of regular system working at health stations in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, border communes or working in the fields of tuberculosis, leprosy, mental illness, pathology, infectious diseases, emergency resuscitation, geriatrics, the support level is from 150-300 million VND depending on graduation results.
Quang Tri also opens up more directions to mobilize retired doctors. In parallel with attracting new human resources, monthly preferential policies are applied to retain doctors who are working.
Another solution is to rotate doctors between levels. Doctors from provincial hospitals, regional general hospitals and provincial-level medical facilities assigned to support commune-level health stations are supported with 5 million VND/month for general practitioners, 6 million VND/month for doctors with postgraduate degrees and 2 million VND for rent. If they come to areas in difficult areas, mountainous areas, and border areas as prescribed, doctors are additionally supported with 2 million VND/month.
In the long term, the province implements a policy of training full-time general practitioners according to the address of use.
After graduation, the supported person will be considered for recruitment, signed contracts and assigned to public health non-business units in areas where doctors are still lacking, prioritizing ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas and places with difficult socio-economic conditions.
