Many barriers in primary healthcare
Faced with the reality of human resource shortage and difficult working conditions at grassroots health facilities, voters in Gia Lai province proposed that there should be strong enough policies on salaries, allowances, support for working conditions, training, fostering, and career development.
In addition, it is necessary to ensure facilities, equipment, medicines and medical supplies to attract and retain medical staff, especially in remote areas, ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas and difficult areas.
A survey of the current situation at 135 commune-level Health Stations shows that infrastructure and operating conditions are still limited. There are 109 stations that do not have enough rooms to meet basic functions; 116 stations have medical equipment that does not meet needs; 120 stations do not have testing equipment; 133 stations are not equipped with diagnostic imaging equipment; 43 drug evaluation stations do not meet needs; 88 stations face financial difficulties and 76 stations have information technology infrastructure that does not meet needs.
These are factors that directly affect the efficiency of human resource use and service quality.
Human resource training also faces many obstacles due to the shortage of human resources in many health stations, and sending officials for long-term training affects professional activities. Meanwhile, after training, the remuneration regime is not attractive enough to retain a qualified team.
Digital transformation is being implemented at many health stations, but the computer infrastructure, transmission lines, software and information technology application capacity are not uniform. Some software is not interconnected, and officials still have to enter data on many systems, increasing the volume of administrative work.
Completing policies to retain medical personnel
Before voters' recommendations, Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee has implemented policies on preferential allowances according to professions, special allowances in the field of health; supporting village health workers, residential groups, village midwives, population collaborators; implementing policies to attract and offer incentives to doctors and pharmacists at medical facilities.
In particular, the Provincial People's Council has issued Resolution No. 54 stipulating a number of policies to attract and offer incentives to doctors and pharmacists.
In parallel, the province strengthens training, fostering, updating professional knowledge and technology transfer for health station personnel. The project to train and improve the quality of health human resources at public health facilities in Gia Lai province in the period 2026-2030 is expected to provide postgraduate training for about 1,100 health sector officials, of which nearly 50% of the target is for grassroots health.
Regarding working conditions, the Provincial People's Committee has directed to review and summarize difficulties at commune-level Health Stations, focusing on facilities, equipment, medicines, medical supplies, computers, printers, transmission lines, information technology infrastructure, financial mechanisms, accounting, clerical work, procurement and settlement in the new model.
These contents have been included in the group of priority tasks to be implemented in 2026 and the 2026-2030 period to gradually improve the operating conditions of grassroots healthcare, creating a stable working environment for the medical team to promote professional capacity and improve the quality of people's health care.
Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee said that voters' petitions have been initially resolved. However, the attraction and retention of medical personnel has not yet achieved sustainable efficiency due to limited income, allowances, working conditions, postgraduate training opportunities, housing, career development environment and investment resources for the Health Station.
Therefore, the province will continue to improve synchronous policies, linking human resource attraction with improving working conditions, increasing income, supporting training and strengthening investment in facilities for grassroots healthcare.
