Reporter: Vietnam has officially become the 150^th member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since November 7, 2006. It means that the State’s health protection policy and issues related to the healthcare economy will be gradually removed. How will this affect medical examination and treatment for poor people?

Minister Chien: Officially joining the WTO has presented Vietnam with many opportunities and challenges. According to experts, the country will have a good opportunity to boost socio-economic development. However, it will also have limitations in the market economy and social issues such as the gap between rich and poor which remains wide in rural areas. The biggest challenge  for the Vietnamese healthcare sector is the increasingly high demand for medical treatment while investment in the sector is still limited. To resolve the issue, it is essential to devise effective solutions with a focus on renewing healthcare activities by pooling social resources, issuing polices in support of the private healthcare sector, readjusting fees of public healthcare services and adopting mechanisms of self-controlled public hospitals. However, these solutions will cause a comercialisation of healthcare system, sending healthcare service and drug prices soaring high and hinder poor people from using expensive high-tech healthcare services. Therefore, the State should provide more  positive support for the poor.

Reporter:  What are measures and specific plans the healthcare sector will work out to resolve the above mentioned issues?

Minister Chien: The healthcare sector has early realized these issues and has proposed solutions to the Government. The State will continue to play a key role of investment in healthcare activities for people, especially for the poor by providing financial support and high-quality services while controlling healthcare services. In the next 10-15 years, privilege policies and activities aimed at ensuring healthcare for the poor will focus on the following directions:

-          Raising the proportion of public funding in the total national healthcare spending, of which funding from the State budget plays a key role; renovating budget allocation to create equality among regions and income groups; and supporting the poor, under 6-year old children and other policy beneficiaries.

-          Developing healthcare insurance into healthcare insurance for the entire people to enjoy equality in healthcare services. This is the State’s basic and long-term policy aimed at building an equal and effective public funding system. In the initial period, the Government will provide healthcare issuance for all the poor, ethnic minority people and under-6-year old children and other policy beneficiaries.

-          Providing healthcare checks-up for the poor, increasing the State and local budgets and international organisations’ support to ensure 100 percent of provinces and cities have healthcare funds for the poor; increasing the rates of free healthcare spending from VND75,000 to VND90,000 per year for under 6-year old children and from VND50,000 to VND60,000 per year for the poor. As from 2007, the Ministry of Health will propose new spending levels based on the real situation.