HCM CITY — The Health Ministry has asked hospitals nationwide to outline plans on quality management and set up projects to improve the quality of check-ups and treatments.
At a workshop in HCM City yesterday, Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy head of the MoH's Health Examination and Treatment Department, said that hospitals should base their plans on the ministry's set of criteria as well as standards proposed by international health commissions and councils.

The ministry also plans to collect opinions from patients and relatives and use those as a basis for developing standards.

Hospitals have been told to ensure the safety of patients and health staff by properly using medicine and injections, and performing surgery under professional methods.

Each hospital has a council on hospital quality management. However, Dr Luong Ngoc Khue, head of MoH's Health Exam and Treatment Department, said quality management had not yet been carried out at all hospitals in Viet Nam.

Only 21 out of 171,210 public and private hospitals nationwide have done so.

Viet Nam was faced with a shortage of officials specialising in hospital quality management, he said.

A training programme on hospital quality management has been existing, but has still not been carried out at medical universities, Khue said.

Because of the lack of knowledge about hospital quality management, the quality of check-up and treatments has not improved.

The ministry said it would focus on improving the capacity of hospital managers by issuing guiding documents and pouring more investment in hospitals.

It would also issue incentives for hospitals to implement quality management and encourage them to use information technology, Khue said. —VNS