Healthcare brain drain
In the period of 2021 - 2024, Quang Nam province has 273 cases with university degrees or higher transferred from the public sector to the private sector. Of which, 218 are university-level people, 33 have specialized degrees I, 19 masters, 1 specialist II, and 2 doctors.
The shift of highly qualified workers is concentrated in the health sector with 234 people (of which, university students are 192 people, specialties I are 33 people, master's degrees are 8 people, specialties II are 1 person).
According to the number of doctors in Circular 03 dated February 17, 2023, with the current bed capacity, the Quang Nam health sector needs 1,681 doctors working in affiliated public service units, with the current number of doctors, still lacking 556 doctors.
There are cases where doctors in public hospitals, after being sent to study and improve their qualifications, have accepted contract compensation to be transferred to a private hospital for work, such as Ms. P.N.T.T (previously working at the Quang Nam Province Dermatology Hospital).
According to the leader of Quang Nam Dermatology Hospital, Dr. T quit his job due to low income and not enough to cover expenses. The fact that Dr. T was sent to train and then resigned has caused a shortage of doctors in this hospital.
The situation of brain drain in the Quang Nam health sector has been going on for many years, when they first graduated, many young doctors wanted to apply to public hospitals because they were practiced in many difficult cases, had to study to improve their qualifications to be granted a practice certificate... Meanwhile, private hospitals often recruit good doctors with academic titles, academic titles, brands and accept higher salaries because they do not have to spend on training.
Increase incentives to retain doctors
Doctor T.N, who used to work in a public hospital in the province but now a private hospital, said that the current average income of doctors in a public hospital in the province is about 15 million - 20 million VND/month. That is, when there are many patients, the income increases, while there are few patients, the doctor's income is from 10 - 15 million VND/month. At private hospitals, the average income is from 30 - 50 million VND/month.
In addition to salary and benefits, the working environment is a very important factor that causes public hospitals to lose human resources Dr. T.N expressed his opinion.
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Mai Van Muoi - Director of Quang Nam Department of Health said that the shortage of doctors only occurs locally, not a shortage of general practitioners.
Currently, Quang Nam province has assigned autonomy to 32 public health service units in the period of 2023 - 2025.
Financial autonomy helps medical facilities effectively use financial resources, to create additional income for doctors and medical staff. At the same time, proactively train in areas lacking human resources" - Mr. Mai Van Muoi assessed.
The province has also developed policies to attract and support doctors working in specialized health units at the provincial level and ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Quang Nam province, to retain talented people. This will be a high-quality human resource that will long-term serve the health sector.
