HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health (MoH) has improved the quality of healthcare and treatment at medical stations in 26 wards and communes in certain localities across the country over the past year.

The work aimed at helping reduce overcrowding at higher-level hospitals, especially central ones, and fulfilling the health sector’s target for this year. Its target, set at the beginning of this year, was to develop grassroots level healthcare and enhance the work of medical stations.

The MoH gave guidance to medical stations to conduct different professional tasks, including taking care of mothers and children, providing examinations and treatment for chronic diseases, providing early diagnoses for high-risk patients, good first aid and education on disease prevention. The medical stations also applied information technology in their work and improved waste treatment.

Associate professor Lương Ngọc Khuê, director of the Vietnam Medical Services Administration under the MoH, said that the MoH had conducted different methods to fulfill the task.

The ministry supervised and gave technical support on chronic disease management for several provinces and cities, and professional guidance for nearly 30 communal medical stations.

More equipment was also handed out to communal medical stations.

The ministry called for co-operation from concerned organisations such as the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.

To improve the quality of health examination and treatment, co-operation is needed from people’s committees at different levels, provincial and municipal departments of health, districts and central hospitals, Khuê said.

The Ministry’s project 5168, which assigned doctors from central hospitals and hospitals in Hà Nội and HCM City to take turns giving professional training and help for communal medical stations in 2018-20, was one important measure to ease overcrowding at main hospitals.

“The project also helps create equality in healthcare in different areas across the country, and train professional workers to meet patients’ demands,” said Khuê. — VNS