Can Tho (VNA) – Statistics showed that the MekongDelta has 7.85 doctors and 1.39 pharmacists per 10,000 residents, reflecting aserious shortage in the region.
The situation is even worse in some special medical fields.For example, all the 13 Mekong Delta provinces and cities have their ownforensic science centres, but there are only four forensic doctors in the entireregion. There are eight tuberculosis and lung disease hospitals in the region,but most have few specialized doctors, with some provinces having just between1 and 5 doctors trained in the field.
Le Hoang Anh, Director of the Kien Giang Health Department,said the province is preparing to establish a tuberculosis hospital and anotherfor mental disorders, but there are only 7 – 8 doctors available for eachestablishment.
Kien Giang is calling for medical students to work at localhospitals after graduating. However, not many of them answer to the call due tounattractive salaries.
Can Tho City, despite having the highest rate of 11.54doctors per 10,000 residents, still lacks doctors at general hospitals,particularly at grassroots level.
Another problem for the region’s medical sector is the lossof good doctors to private establishments. Tu Quoc Tuan, Director of the AnGiang Health Department, said the province has subsidized tuition fees for medicalworkers to receive training, so that they will return to work at local hospitalafter graduation.
However, in the past three years, one fifth of the trained medicalworkers have accepted paying damages for the authorities and quit theirprevious medical jobs after finishing their study.
The situation is predicted to get worse with the rising numberof private clinics and hospitals in the region, which offer much higher wagesand bonuses than their public peers.
At a recent conference on medical human resources trainingin the Mekong Delta, representatives from the 13 provinces and cities suggestedthat better salary policy and working environment are needed to attract and keepdoctors at public facilities.-VNA
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Illustrative Image (Source: suckhoedoisong.vn) 
