Urgent need to 'retain' medical staff

The last time Hai Duong had an assessment of the current human resource situation was at the end of 2024, when the Provincial People's Council drafted a Resolution promulgating regulations on policies to support training, attraction and treatment of medical human resources at public agencies and units under the management of the province for the period 2025 - 2030.

There are specific figures assessing the current situation of human resources in the medical sector that are worth pondering. That is, Hai Duong is seriously lacking doctors, especially doctors at the grassroots medical level and some specialties that are difficult to recruit such as: Psychiatry, forensic medicine, infectious diseases, tuberculosis, pathology, emergency resuscitation - anti-poisoning. From 2020 to 2023, the whole sector had 215 civil servants and public employees quit their jobs, including 61 doctors. Notably, in 2023, 50 medical staff resigned to work at private medical facilities, including 18 doctors. The number of doctors recruited every year is low, for example, in 2023, only 29 doctors were recruited.

The number of medical staff as of March 31, 2024 is 7,434 people, including 53 civil servants (reaching 93% of the assigned target), 7,371 public employees (reaching 82.1% of the assigned target). According to statistics, the number of doctors lacking is 388 people. To achieve the goal of having 19 doctors/10,000 people by 2030, 3,713 doctors are needed. Therefore, it is expected that there will be a shortage of about 1,505 doctors.

Resolution No. 39/2024/NQ-HDND dated December 11, 2024 is truly a boost for Hai Duong province in supporting training, attracting and rewarding medical human resources in public agencies and units. To attract doctors to work in public agencies and units under the province's management, Hai Duong supports from 150 - 500 million VND/person. The highest support level of 500 million VND is for PhDs, specialist II doctors working in the specialties of psychiatry, pathology, forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, infectious diseases, and emergency resuscitation.

With quite high and practical support levels, Resolution No. 39/2024/NQ-HDND has gradually overcome the shortcomings in the mechanism of attracting and improving the quality of medical human resources. However, in reality, there are still concerns about the daily and monthly income of doctors and medical staff in public facilities, which is not really commensurate with the hardships and pressures of their work.

Talking to some medical staff at major hospitals in the province, I found that the common concern is still low salaries and allowances. A nurse who has worked for more than 10 years at the Provincial General Hospital said that the daily allowance is only 86,000 VND and on weekends it is 165,000 VND. A medical staff at Hai Duong Children's Hospital said that machinery and equipment are limited, and the lack of medical supplies makes daily work more stressful and pressured. They also said that the preferential policies and training support under Resolution No. 39/2024/NQ-HDND do not have a large enough coverage of beneficiaries. Some people want to go to school to improve their professional qualifications but are not eligible for support...

With the increasing demand for medical examination, treatment and health care for the people and the increasing pressure, the question of why, with the same level of expertise, doctors and medical staff working in private facilities have better income and living conditions than those working in public facilities needs to be answered soon. Support mechanisms and policies to attract and "retain" medical human resources need to continue to be completed and put into practice soon.