This figure caused a storm in the local media this week, raising great concerns that a huge sum of foreign currency leaks out and runs into a service that can be provided right here in Vietnam. At first glance, traveling abroad for medical services seems to be a privilege for well-off people due to expensive prices and traveling costs. But, the number of Vietnamese going abroad for health check-ups and treatment is increasing year after year with many middle or even low-income earners trying to join the growing trend.

Patients have good reason to put all their faith in overseas medical industry. As reported by Sai Gon Tiep Thi, 24 hours before these figures were announced, Dang Thi Lien, widowed by the carelessness of doctors of Binh Dan Hospital in HCMC, stood in front of the office of the HCMC Health Department to ask for an explanation for her husband’s death.

Many people can’t seem to believe that their health problems can be cured in this country as in the media the pictures we see daily of local hospitals is the negative images of overloaded, noisy and dirty places. Even worse, patients have to suffer complicated procedures, equipment shortages, slow services and most importantly, the cold and emotionless attitudes of both doctors and nurses. Therefore, most patients and their relatives are willing to pay the price to put their trust in foreign hospitals, where not only do they get professional medical services but also impressive customer care.

In fact, the price they have to pay is much more than that reported and is not an easy task with high levels of stress involved. Taking the decision to go overseas for medical treatment, sees local people face many challenges in expenditure, language, post-surgery complications, traveling and differences between the legal systems of the two nations. Besides, it is not easy for patients to find a good doctor. But for patients who have lost all belief in the local health system it seems they have no other choice. As a result, not just wealthy people, but some patients who cannot afford the services also attempt to travel abroad at any price.

Local doctors have raised a strong voice to protect the health industry, saying that many great achievements have been obtained in complicated fields such as vitro fertilization, transplants, heart surgery, orthopedics and cosmetic surgery. However, these endeavors  cannot compensate for poor facilities at most public hospitals.

A familiar image is of two or three patients share the same bed while their relatives have to sleep under the bed or along the balcony. In saying that, if you went to visit a sick relative in London or Paris and asked to sleep in the corridor or balcony, you’d be whisked off to the nearest (expensive) hotel.

Meanwhile, there is still a paradox in that many foreigners and overseas Vietnamese actually come to Vietnam for healthcare services, but the nation is never recommended as a destination for medical tourism on travel websites worldwide.

As reported on Dan Tri, Doctor Le Hanh, chairman of the HCMC Cosmetic Surgery Association, said that many patients go abroad in the belief that aesthetic services in foreign countries are better than in Vietnam. That is because they want to go abroad for travel, sightseeing and shopping with some plastic surgery thrown in for good measure.

Doctor Nguyen Thy Hung, director of the Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital in HCMC, points out on Vietnamnet that an underdeveloped private insurance network and the lack of qualified human resources is a factor.

“We must look at the fact that hospitals in Vietnam are still very much lacking in facilities, while professionalism is very poor. The qualification of doctors, if it is divided, sees only 20% rated as good, 60% average, and 20% very weak,” he says.

Doctor Tran Hai Yen, deputy director of the HCMC Eye Hospital, admitted that the best doctors in Vietnam are concentrated in a number of public hospitals in big cities. Local hospitals, although they have modern equipment, still miss out on patients because of the lack of good doctors. Although the Ministry of Health has implemented a project to share manpower in central hospitals with local provinces, this scheme has failed to bring about any clear results.

This problem is a huge lesson for not only the health sector but also to the whole economy for losing large amounts of foreign currency amid the current financial downtown. It is high time that managing agencies adjust or issue suitable health policies to improve infrastructure, manpower and services to win back the confidence of patients and prevent foreign currency losses. On a brighter note, Vietnam with a renewed professionalism can develop medical tourism, which is a highly-profitable sector in regional countries such as Thailand, Singapore and China.

Hung is quoted by Tuoi Tre as saying that the health sector should have statistics on services of each hospital and illnesses that the 40,000 patients look for treatment for overseas. These statistics will help the nation find solutions to keep patients while hospitals have to pledge to provide good enough services. Investment policies in this sector must be adjusted to lure capital flow, improve facilities and secure a healthy development. If related agencies have learned one lesson from this debacle, it is that it’s not too late for the nation to put the effort in to win back something more important than money - the trust of patients.

Source: SaigonTimes.