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| The Ministry of Health will not increase hospital fees on August 1 as scheduled because of apprehensions about its inflationary effect. — Photo cafef.vn |
HCM CITY — The Ministry of Health will not increase hospital fees on August 1 as scheduled because of apprehensions about its inflationary effect.
The ministry, the General Statistics Office and the State Bank of Việt Nam are determining the likely consequences to decide when and in which provinces and cities to increase the fees.
It was to be the second in a series of planned hikes.
According to a road map, public hospitals around the country will raise their fees in five stages by 2017 to reduce their impact on the consumer price index.
In each stage, eight to 12 provinces and cities will be allowed to increase.
Besides, provinces and cities where 95 per cent of the population is covered by health insurance will be the first to increase, followed by ones with a 90 per cent coverage rate.
They will be followed by those with 85 per cent and 80 per cent rates in the third and fourth stages.
All remaining provinces and cities will hike the fees in the final stage.
The first hike was made on March 1, with around 1,900 services and items becoming 30-50 per cent more expensive.
According to the Việt Nam Social Insurance, after the hike the Ministry of Health carried out a number of inspections of the quality of services at public hospitals.
It concluded that only some hospitals have improved and the managers of many others lack the mindset to improve. —VNS
