VietNamNet Bridge – Investors have money, patients have demand for healthcare services. However, private hospitals cannot exist, while patients still cannot enjoy high quality services.

A lot of private run hospitals have been set up since the day the government began calling for the investments from different sources in the healthcare sector.

But a lot of them have been running at a moderate level because of the lack of patients. Analysts believe that the problem lies in the lack of qualified doctors and healthcare workers which makes it impossible to attract customers.

Dr. Nguyen Sao Trung from the HCM City Medical and Pharmacy University noted that Vietnamese tend to choose doctors when they go for healthcare services. This is the reason why investors are willing to lay a red carpet to welcome talents.

However, since there are not many talented doctors, private hospitals have to compete fiercely with each other to attract leading experts. Good remuneration does not always ensure that hospitals can recruit good doctors.

It is even more difficult for Vietnamese hospitals to hire foreign qualified doctors. It is partially because of the demanded high pay. Besides, under the current laws, foreign doctors can only practice the healthcare services in Vietnam if they are fluent in Vietnamese. If they are not good at Vietnamese, they must register the language to be used and hire interpreters.

This explains why Vietnamese doctors still account for big proportions at foreign invested hospitals.

The lack of the qualified staff is the reason that prompts Nguyen Huu Tung, Deputy Chair of the Private Practitioners’ Association to nurture a plan on setting up a private medical university, which operates under the mode of hospital – schools, the very popular one in western countries.

The plan of setting up a private medical university in HCM City was approved by Nguyen Thien Nhan, who was then the Deputy Prime Minister in August 2011. However, to date, Tung still has not got the “clean land” to implement the project.

“If I cannot show a detailed plan on the project implementation within three years, I will have to give up the project,” he said.

Trieu An Hospital also once sought the permission to set up a private medical school. The idea was ratified by the National Assembly in 2008. However, no progress has been made so far.

The pale private healthcare sector has been partially explained by the reverse effects of the socialization policy which allows private investors to make investment in state owned schools.

Under the private – public partnership mode, private investors spend money to buy modern equipment to be installed at state owned hospitals. Private investors and state owned hospitals share the profits they get.

However, the business model cannot help ease the overloading of state owned hospitals. The prestige of the hospitals plus the loyal clients have both attracted more customers. Meanwhile, the business plan proves to be more attractive than the one on setting up new hospitals.

In an effort to encourage the private healthcare sector, the state management agencies once asked the overloaded state owned hospitals to cooperate with private hospitals to take full advantage of the private hospitals’ idle beds. They also urged state owned hospitals to transfer patients to private hospitals.

However, this cannot encourage private hospital investors.

NCDT