HÀ NỘI — Several major hospital construction projects that would have provided residents of the capital and its surroundings with thousands of beds have been abandoned over the past decade.

Such was the case with the planned Hà Đông International Hospital in Hà Đông District, with a total area of about 16.65ha.

The project was approved by the former Hà Tây Province People’s Committee (the province has since been merged into Hà Nội). In 2008, the Hạ Long Investment and Development Co Ltd announced its investment in the new hospital complex.

In 2011, the Hà Nội People’s Committee asked the investor to speed up the project’s progress, but by 2014, the ground clearance had not even been completed.

Recently, the Aeon Việt Nam Company signed a contract with the Hạ Long company to build a mall in Hà Đông District. The capital authorities have thus decided to change the plan, and to approve a smaller hospital with a mall next door.

Under the new plan, the Hà Đông International Hospital will be built on 7.1ha with 600 beds, occupying nearly 43 per cent of the land. And the remaining piece of land will be used to build the mall on 9.5ha.

Abandoned project

Another plan was approved in 2011 by the Hà Nội People’s Committee to build four hospitals, each with 1,000 beds, in four suburban districts to meet residents’ demand.

Under the plan, the Northern General Hospital was to be built in Mê Linh District, scheduled to start in September 2011 and open for public use in June 2013. The second hospital was to be built in Đan Phượng or Thạch Thất District on 10ha, scheduled to start in September 2011. The third hospital was planned for Gia Lâm District and the fourth for Phú Xuyên District.

The Hà Nội People’s Committee assigned the municipal Department of Planning and Investment to mobilise capital for the plan.

Nguyễn Xuân Trường, chairman of the Mê Linh District People’s Committee, told the Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that after the municipal authority issued a decision related to the Mê Linh hospital, the district hospital moved to another place to make room for the new facility.

The new Mê Linh hospital was expected to serve the demand of residents from Sóc Sơn, Đông Anh, Đan Phượng districts and neighbouring provinces, such as Vĩnh Phúc and Phú Thọ. “We looked forward to the project,” he said.

But local authorities appear to have changed their policies on medical facilities, preferring smaller, more specialised ones to major district hospitals.

At a recent conference between the Ministry of Health and the Hà Nội People’s Committee, Minister of Health Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến said that the Government agreed to build a paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology hospital in Quốc Oai District, and a dental, stomatology and ophthalmology hospital in a suburban district.

Officials of the Hà Nội People’s Committee agreed that the city should not build big hospitals, and build smaller hospitals instead, located in residential quarters so that residents can access them easily for examination and treatment. — VNS