Need to pay attention to salary policy for grassroots officials

On the morning of November 2, the National Assembly discussed the implementation of the state budget and many other important issues. Among them, the resources for salary reform and the lack of vaccines for children were of concern to delegates.

Regarding the salary policy, delegate Dinh Thi Phuong Lan (Quang Ngai delegation) requested the Government to report on the overall resources for implementing the salary reform policy for the period 2024 - 2026, forecasting to 2030.

Delegates from Quang Ngai noted that special attention should be paid to salary and allowance policies for grassroots officials, civil servants, ward, town and village officials.

Sharing the same concern, delegate Nguyen Thanh Nam (Phu Tho delegation) also requested the Government to consider and study budget allocation to ensure stable regime for forces at the grassroots level.

According to Mr. Nam, in the 2022-2025 budget period, some policies issued by the Central Government have not been arranged in the local budget, leading to the need to use capital to perform other tasks to promptly pay benefits to appropriate subjects.

National Assembly Delegate of Phu Tho province said that many localities, based on the actual situation and local budget resources, have issued a number of policies for specific subjects according to the basic salary.

Typical examples include policies to support non-staff preschool teachers under contract at public educational institutions to ensure the ratio of teachers in the classroom; policies to pay allowances to grassroots agricultural extension workers; policies to pay allowances to concurrently holding positions for People's Councils at all levels.

Concerns about insufficient vaccines for children

Speaking at the meeting, delegate Tran Thi Nhi Ha, Director of Hanoi Department of Health, mentioned the content of "special mechanism for vaccine procurement in the current context".

According to the Director of the Hanoi Department of Health, the lack of vaccines is a very serious problem, because vaccination and compliance with the vaccination schedule are proactive disease prevention measures, one of the most effective methods to protect children's health.

“Children who are not vaccinated or are not fully vaccinated on schedule are at increased risk of contracting the disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have ranked the possibility of polio returning to Vietnam from the lowest level to medium-high from the beginning of 2023, due to the lack of polio vaccine,” said delegate Ha.

According to Ms. Ha, in Hanoi, by November 2023, 5/10 types of vaccines were not provided enough to vaccinate children, such as: measles, diphtheria - whooping cough - tetanus, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and polio.

“Without expanded vaccination, people have to seek expensive vaccination services. When there is a lack of free vaccines, the most affected are poor children and children in mountainous ethnic minority areas,” Ms. Ha said, suggesting that the National Assembly and the Government pay attention to this issue to ensure that children are vaccinated with the right dose and schedule.

Previously, explaining to the National Assembly about the issue of expanded vaccination, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the agency had organized procurement in accordance with legal regulations, and 10 types of domestically produced vaccines had been ordered.

"Currently, the Ministry of Finance is actively coordinating with the Ministry of Health to review and approve prices and is expected to complete in November 2023," said the Minister of Health.

Regarding the "5 in 1" vaccine that must be imported, Ms. Lan said that she has completed the bidding process and is also waiting for the results to implement it in November 2023.

In addition, the Ministry of Health has mobilized domestic sponsors and WHO and UNICEF to support nearly 300,000 doses of "5 in 1" vaccine for 63 localities to carry out vaccination.