Poor infrastructure at the Mental Health Hospital in District 5, HCM City. (Photo: VNA) Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward Healthcare Centre in the city's District 1 isusually flooded after heavy rain.
The head of the centre, Truong Kim My, said that in the 20 yearssince she started working there, flooding has become more of an issue.
"The centre has degraded more and more, but when we asked forfunding to fix it, the answer is 'you'll have to wait'," My said.
Pham Ngu Lao Ward Healthcare Centre in the same district lookslike a small store, with a width of just five metres. The centre has no yard,parking, storehouse or garden for herbal plants.
Doctor Ly Thi Tuyet Hang said the first floor of the centre onlyhas room for two or three tables.
"The examination area is also the emergency room, where thepatients stay and medicines and equipment are stored," Hang said.
"During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the centre wasresponsible for dealing with a complicated area crowded with foreigners.Therefore, health workers must work very hard," Hang said.
Doctor Do Thi Tan, vice director of District 1's HealthcareCentre, said that the district had ten ward healthcare centres, but seven ofthem are degraded.
The district-level centre also branches into four locations, withone branch on Tran Hung Dao Street for tuberculosis treatment and another on MaLo Street for HIV/AIDS treatment.
Meanwhile, the city's Mental Health Hospital in District 5 is saidto be one of the most degraded in the city.
A patient, 62-year-old Ngo Thi Minh Phu, said that she has been inand out of hospital in the past few years and is not surprised to see mossywalls, dirty floors and terrible toilets there. "There has been no changefor years," she said.
At Hoc Mon General Hospital, medical workers usually wear plasticboots to receive patients; when it rains, the hospital's examination roomfloods.
The hospital director Dang Quoc Quan said that construction of anew hospital began in early 2021 but progress is slow.
Delayed projects
Ho Hai Truong Giang, Director of An Binh Hospital, said that undera project worth more than 600 billion VND that started in November 2021, thehospital's degraded medical examination and treatment blocks should be replacedwith new ones.
The work was expected to complete in June this year, but as oflast month, the construction site was empty apart from a few workers andvehicles, Giang said.
Similarly, the construction of Cu Chi General Hospital in Tan An Hoicommune is far behind schedule.
With a total investment of 1.8 trillion VND, the construction ofthe new hospital on an area of 60,000 sq.m was started in January 2021 and isexpected to complete within 36 months.
Nguyen Hoai Nam, vice director of the city's Health Department,said that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction work ofthe units faced difficulties and must be delayed.
Additionally, fluctuations in the price of construction materialshave delayed contractors as they wait for prices to decrease, Nam said.
"Through inspections, many contractors said they were willingto pay compensation for the delay. However, if they continue to do the work,they could lose tens of billions of đồng because of escalating prices,"Nam said.
In addition, due to the end of the implementation period, someprojects had to be stopped and wait for an extension of the constructionperiod.
According to the municipal People's Committee, in the medium-termpublic investment plan for 2015-2020, the health sector has 109 projectsapproved with a proposed investment of 23.327 trillion VND.
By the end of 2020, 39 projects were completed and put into use,including the construction project of HCM City Children's Hospital, Go VapDistrict General Hospital, and Phase 2 of Hung Vuong Hospital.
This year, some projects are expected to be completed, such as theconstruction project of Blood Transfusion and Hematology Hospital 2, ahigh-tech cardiovascular treatment area project at Children's Hospital 1, andAn Binh Hospital construction project phase 1. However, most of the otherprojects are behind schedule./.
VNA
