Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc hands over gift to leaders of Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HCM CITY — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has confirmed that HCM City’s Chợ Rẫy Hospital will receive reciprocal capital from the Government for the construction of its second hospital. A US$25 million official development assistance (ODA) package from the Austrian government will also be provided for equipment and facilities.

Phúc made the pledge during his Saturday visit to Chợ Rẫy Hospital, one of the leading hospitals in the southern region, on the occasion of the 63rd celebration of Vietnamese Doctors’ Day, which falls on February 27.

He praised the hospital, located in District 5, for its efforts to apply technical advancements in medical check-ups and treatment, as well as its renovations in management, especially the self-finance mechanism, which increases its autonomy. The construction of its second hospital is underway in Bình Chánh District.

The PM said the 1.5 million people using Chợ Rẫy Hospital’s services in 2017 reflect its prestige, particularly in the southern region. 

He used the occasion to call on doctors and health workers nationwide to overcome difficulties and limitations in order to better meet public demands for health care. 

Greater efforts should be made to deal with shortcomings relating to medical ethics, overcrowding in hospitals, antibiotic abuse, administrative reform, medical equipment and medicine management and security and safety in hospitals, he stressed. 

Phúc urged the health sector to review, amend and supplement suitable mechanisms and policies to encourage different economic sectors to invest in health care, thus helping improve the quality of medical check-up and treatment. 

Established in 1900, Chợ Rẫy Hospital was one of the first public hospitals nationwide to establish a self-financing mechanism in 2010, allowing it to set its own financial course with less government oversight.

It was originally named Hôpital Municipal de Cholon as one of the very first medical units France established in Việt Nam, together with Pasteur Institute in HCM City (1891) and Pasteur Insitute in Nha Trang City (1895). It took the name Chợ Rẫy in 1957.

Chợ Rẫy Hospital is one of the four health centres recognised as a special hospital, together with Việt-Đức (Việt Nam-Germany) Hospital and Bạch Mai Hospital in Hà Nội and Huế Central Hospital in the central province of Thừa Thiên-Huế.

With 4,000 staff, the hospital admitted patients from 23 southern cities and provinces. During the recent Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday, which lasted from February 14-20, it received nearly 2,200 patients. 
Last year, the hospital recorded noted achievements, including the adoption of a robot-assisted system to perform complex minimally invasive surgery. 

This is the third hospital in Việt Nam that has applied the most advanced medical technology, according to Lương Ngọc Khuê, head of the Ministry of Health’s Medical Examination and Treatment Department. 

Doctors at Chợ Rẫy Hospital also successfully performed organ transplants for four patients from an 18-year-old girl rendered brain-dead by a traffic accident last year. 

That was the first time that Chợ Rẫy Hospital doctors have performed a heart transplant and the second time they were doing a liver transplant, thanks to technology transfer from the Việt-Đức Hospital in Hà Nội, a leading institution for surgery in Việt Nam, and the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s ASAN Medical Centre. 

On the same day, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc visited Tâm Đức Cardiology Hospital in HCM City. — VNS