"Crowd, Poor House"
The meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Đỗ Xuân Tuyên – Deputy Minister of Health related to many issues currently being prominent in the health sector, especially the situation of shortage of medical supplies, prolonged medical equipment shortage in HCMC.
Dr. BS Vũ Trí Thanh – Director of TP Thủ Đức Hospital, HCMC said, every day the hospital has around 4,500 outpatient patients, the hospital operates on a scale of district and city, but the number of patients is very large. Therefore, the hospital faces many difficulties in the situation of "large scale, crowd, poor house".
“Regarding the supply of medicine and medical supplies of the hospital compared to 2023 and the end of 2022, it is currently better. Basically, there is enough medicine, but occasionally there are some prescriptions lacking at some time. The reason, due to supply chain disruption, in addition, the hospital has many debts, so some exclusive medicines do not participate in the bidding, or participate but due to debt, they supply small quantities. For example, epidural anesthetic, at some times there is no stock, so pregnant women have to be transferred to general anesthesia, affecting the quality of treatment for patients”, Dr. Trí Thanh shared.
“Some medical supplies are auctioned, won, but the quality does not meet, for example, only suitable for the perineal area, blunt needles, sutures not enough days, causing wounds not yet healed”, Dr. Trí Thanh added.
End-of-line hospital struggling with a thirst for medical supplies
Also at the meeting with the Ministry of Health, Dr. DS Nguyễn Quốc Bình – Deputy Director of Chợ Rẫy Hospital said, as a multi-disciplinary hospital at the end of the line in the southern region, the demand of patients is constantly changing. Therefore, it is only at the end of the day that the functional department can fully count. Through the process of monitoring, the number of patients has increased by 11-12% compared to before, leading to difficulties for the hospital in ensuring the supply of medicine and medical supplies.
Dr. Quốc Bình gave an example that the hospital had prepared medical supplies to treat 1,000 patients for 3 months, but due to the high demand, the source of medical supplies was depleted earlier than expected, causing many disadvantages. Therefore, the issue of shortage of resources depends on each time point, however, the hospital still ensures sufficient resources for long-term treatment.
“Currently, the hospital plans to conduct 5 packages according to new regulations. In the process of research, we have not seen any obstacles, but due to the fact that there are many changes, we propose the Ministry of Health provide additional guidance to adjust accordingly,” Dr. Quốc Bình added.
The situation of shortage of medical equipment at Chấn thương Chỉnh hình Hospital also causes many patients to wait to be operated on to replace hip and knee joints,... due to shortage of medical supplies.
Dr. Châu Văn Đính, Director of Chấn thương Chỉnh hình Hospital, said after concentrated bidding, borrowing, or transferring patients to other places, the situation of medicine and medical supplies at the hospital has become relatively stable.
“The hospital has reported to the HCMC Department of Health and organized a working meeting. We will transfer patients to Bệnh viện Quân y 175, Bệnh viện 7A, or Bệnh viện Nguyễn Trãi, this is a temporary solution. At the same time, the hospital will conduct a wide auction in mid-August for the remaining packages of medical supplies, so the situation of local shortages will soon be resolved. The team participating in the auction has been trained, but the learning time is short, we specialize in medicine, not in auctioning. After many incidents, many colleagues have had thoughts and have resigned,” Dr. Đính shared.
