HÀ NỘI — Local and international health experts have shared experiences on training human resources for the healthcare sector at a conference held today in Hà Nội.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam asked the health sector to rapidly increase the number of doctors, pharmacists and health workers to meet the country’s demand for healthcare and protection.

Đam said Việt Nam should learn from international experiences relevant to the country’s current situation.

He also suggested that the health ministry work closely with the ministries of education and training and home affairs to develop appropriate mechanism and policies related to training human resources for the health sector with the aim to improve training quality and ensuring rights of the medical staff.

“Việt Nam has faced many shortcomings in training health sector human resources due to increasing demand of healthcare and treatment, changes in disease models, ageing population and pollution threats,” health minister Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến said at the event.

“Việt Nam has signed several international agreements and commitments. Therefore, the health sector should reform its human resource training to conform to international laws and regulations,” she said.

“The current training models and curriculums of Việt Nam do not conform to international laws and regulations. The country hasn’t adhered to standards for medical teachers, while training curriculums have focused more on theory than on practical lessons,” Tiến added.

The minister said it was unfair that a medical university graduate who had completed a six-year study programme was at a similar wage level as graduates of a four-year study programme in other fields.

Tiến stressed that the training quality hasn’t met the country’s demand for healthcare and treatment, although the number of medical universities and colleges has increased during the past years.

“Việt Nam wants to learn from the successful models of universities and post-graduate medical training of other countries. Việt Nam will work with foreign partners to develop international cooperation programmes on health sector human resource training as part of efforts to meet the country’s demand for development and international integration,” she said.

At the event, participants discussed ways to improve training quality in medical schools, the organisation of a post-graduate training system, a physician’s licence and the financial mechanism for medical schools.

They also heard presentations based on global experiences in health sector professional training from international guests from the United States, Hong Kong and Thailand.

According to the health ministry’s statistics, Việt Nam currently has 24 medical universities nationwide. The number of doctors has increased from 7.2 per 10,000 people in 2010 to 8 per 10,000 people in 2015. The number of pharmacists was 2.2 per 10,000 people in 2015 compared with 1.76 per 10,000 in 2010. — VNS