Public hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City will increase fees for non-insured patients by 30 percent from August 1(Source: VNA)Public hospitals which receive part of the city’s funds forregular expenditures or are fully funded by the city with the State Budget alsoplan to increase fees, beginning in October 1.
The department said the increases had been approved by the city’sPeople’s Council.
HCM City is one of the last provinces and cities in thecountry to increase hospital fees under the Ministry of Health’s guidancereleased in March.
The increased fees are mostly for health examinations and beds,according to Dinh Thi Lieu, head of finance and accounting division at thehealth department.
The fees for health examinations, for instance, will increase to 29,000VND (1.7 USD) -39,000 VND from 7,000-20,000 VND, depending on the kind of publichospital.
Public hospitals are divided into four categories based on themedical procedures they perform.
Non-insured patients will be affected the most by the feeincreases, Lieu said.
According to the HCM City-based Vietnam Social Insurance, 80 percentof the city’s population have insurance health cards. Hospital fees for insuredpatients increased in June.
The higher fees help cover regular expenditures for publichospitals and salaries for health officials.
The city budget from October will no longer provide funds to allpublic hospitals, except Nhan Ai Hospital, which provides treatment for peoplein the final stage of AIDS; Ben San Hospital, which treats patients withleprosy; the Psychology Hospital; and the Paediatrics Hospital.
The health department also plans to speed up insurance coveragefor all citizens and grant financial autonomy to public hospitals in the city.-VNA
VNA
