An overload of pediatric patients in major pediatrics hospitals throughout the country has become a common occurrence in the healthcare sector. According to statistics from the Treatment Department under the Ministry of Health, there are around 2,000-3,000 patients going to Children’s Hospital No 1 in HCM City daily for medical examination and treatment while the Central Pediatrics Hospital in Hanoi receives approximately 1,000-15,000 patients per day.

Increase in children, reduction in pediatricians
According to a recent survey conducted by the Central Pediatrics Hospital, the country now has some 2,000 pediatricians while the number of children jumped to 35 million in 2005.

The allocation of patient beds is extremely unreasonable as the number of beds for child patients across the country accounted for only 13.5 percent (the set target is 20 percent) in 1999 but the figure remained unchanged in 2005 (between 12 and 15 percent).

It has become apparent that apart from existing pediatrics hospitals in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the majority of other provinces and cities do not want to expand their pediatrics departments. Therefore, localities having pediatrics departments account for just 10 percent.

Due to a shortage of pediatricians, most district-level hospitals have only general doctors or nurses responsible for medical examination and treatment of children while provincially or centrally run hospitals find it difficult to attract pediatricians.

Deputy Director of the Central Pediatrics Hospital Nguyen Van Loc said although the number of pediatricians was already 150, the hospital will recruit more pediatricians in the next few years to meet the increasing demand for medical treatment.

Fall in pediatrics students
Mr Loc has attributed the shortage of pediatricians to the policy of not collecting hospital fees from children patients, resulting in provinces and cities’ giving little attention to pediatrics departments in terms of beds, material facilities and medical equipment as well as incentives for pediatricians.

Due to provincial hospitals’ failure to generate revenue as high as other departments, pediatricians’ income is very low (coming bottom compared to other doctors’).

Over the past 10 years, the number of students registering to study pediatrics at the Medical University has reduced sharply as a pediatrician’s income fails to meet normal living standards.

Ass. Professor Doctor Pham Nhat Anh, Vice Director of the Hanoi Medical University said his university has not trained pediatrics students since 2002 as there are no students interested in studying in this department.

In addition, the current number of pediatricians is becoming less and less, said Mr Anh. Due to the little attention given to pediatrics, a lot of professional pediatricians have decided to study for a masters degree in other fields. In the light of the real situation, pediatric experts have warned that Vietnam will run short of pediatricians between 2010 and 2020 if no appropriate policy is worked out.

In order to resolve the problem, the Ministry of Health and Medical Universities throughout the country should encourage more students to study pediatrics and offer incentive policies aimed at creating equality among departments in hospitals.

Currently, although the number of pediatric patients is on the rise, the question of how to tackle the shortage of pediatricians remains open.