HCM CITY – Public district-level hospitals in HCM City are opening their own clinics in wards and communes to reduce overcrowding and to serve patients who do not live near their hospitals.

Củ Chi District Hospital, for example, opened its own general clinic, named Tân Quy, in the district’s six communes of Tân Thạnh Tây, Tân Thạnh Đông, Trung An, Hòa Phú, Bình Mỹ and Phú Hòa Đông.

The six communes are home to a large number of residents and the industrial parks of Tân Quy, Trung An and Đông Nam.

The clinic, which has 16 doctors from Củ Chi District Hospital, whose services are provided 24/7, has new machines that meet demand in emergencies, surgery, obstetrics, paediatrics, otorhinolaryngology, and other medical specialties.  

The district’s People’s Committee allocated funds to upgrade the clinic from its status as a preventive health centre in the past.

As a “small-scale Củ Chi District Hospital”, the clinic offers improved healthcare services to local residents, according to the city’s Department of Health.

“Local residents no longer have to travel for a long distance and can save costs,” the department said..

When it opened, the clinic saw about 45 patients each day, and now sees 180 patients daily.  

Thủ Đức District Hospital has also seen a reduction in the number of patients because of its own clinics that were set up at health stations in wards and residential areas with export processing zones.

The hospital followed the Ministry of Health’s general requirement to reduce the number of patients at high-level hospitals and to increase the number at health centres.

The hospital now conducts 4,000 examinations per day, compared to 6,000 per day in previous years.

It has also employed more doctors and nurses, raising its total to 453 doctors and 751 nurses. 

Each clinic at its health stations in the district has one to four doctors from its main hospital.  

This year, the hospital plans to open four more clinics in residential areas that have industrial parks.

Because of the opening of its own clinics, it has been able to reduce the number of daily patient examinations to 3,000.

“The clinics have helped reduce patient overcrowding,” Dr Nguyễn Minh Quân, director of Thủ Đức District Hospital, told Việt Nam News.

“This overloading affects quality and can damage the brand name that took years to build. Hospital-acquired infections can also more easily occur because of overcrowding,” Quân added.

The Linh Xuân General Clinic, which belongs to Thủ Đức District Hospital, is located in the district’s export processing zone, has 18 doctors and 15 nurses, providing 750 examinations each day.

The clinic is located in Linh Xuân Ward, 10 kilometres from the hospital, and in an area with high traffic density and large trucks on the roads. –VNS