HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health’s Medical Services Administration (MSA) and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) launched a new initiative to support and training doctors specialised in infectious diseases at a ceremony today in Hà Nội.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Viết Tiến said improvement of medical services and overcrowding at hospitals was one of the major priorities of the health sector in the coming years.

“The MSA and BMJ co-operation initiative would help improve professional skills of Vietnamese doctors towards detection, diagnosis and management of emerging infectious diseases in Việt Nam through BMJs’ Clinical Decision Support,” Tiến said.

Tiến added that the co-operation would help the health sector meet the increasing demand of healthcare and treatment in Việt Nam.

“Today’s clinicians deal with a wealth of constantly changing information and it is increasingly difficult to keep the knowledge and practice current. We feel privileged to be using our international expertise to deliver trusted, evidence-based knowledge to Việt Nam healthcare professionals,” Mitali Wroczynski, head of Strategic Partnerships at BMJ, said.

“We will not only help accelerate progress for a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats but also establish a comprehensive and sustainable training and clinical decision support programme that will address broader healthcare priorities in Việt Nam, and support continuing medical education and professional development,” Wroczynski added.

The initiative provides healthcare professionals with evidence-based online tools and resources, including BMJ Best Practice and BMJ Learning, which together cover over 90 per cent of the most commonly presented conditions across primary and secondary care. Clinicians will receive online, offline and mobile access to over 1,000 clinical decision support topics and over 800 online learning modules. A significant proportion of this content will be translated into Vietnamese.

The initiative will help address national notifiable diseases, including Anthrax and Avian Influenza; diseases of significant concern such as Brucellosis; and infectious diseases such as HIV, multi-drug resistant TB and Malaria.

However, the comprehensive coverage provided by the programme will play a dual role in supporting the top healthcare priorities of Việt Nam, including stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, diabetes, hypertension and many other non-communicable diseases.

Việt Nam currently has more than 1,300 hospital and medical facilities with 250,000 beds that serve 150 million visits of outpatients and 15 million inpatients yearly, according to the health ministry. — VNS