Defining that improving both the quantity and quality of health workers is the basic condition for better healthcare for the people, the health sector of Kon Tum province has applied many solutions to enhance the quality of health workers.
To date, the health sector of Kon Tum province has 2,455 staff, including 2,397-strong professional personnel and 58-strong administrative staff, of which 546 hold university and postgraduate degrees, accounting for 22.2 percent of the total health workforce, including 11 masters, five second-grade medical specialists, and 126 first-grade specialists, 234 physicians, and 19 pharmacists.
To improve the quality of human resources, the Department of Health has annually held continuation training programmes in the province and sends a number of staff to study at higher levels, giving priority to fields with greater needs to serve the public. The department advises the Kon Tum Provincial People’s Committee to send students to study medicine and pharmacy at universities who will return to serve the province after their graduation, as committed before the training. The province has 84/97 communes with permanent doctors. In addition to raising funds for training activities at university and after-university levels and lifting qualifications for health workers at all levels, especially at the grassroots level, the health sector also applies employment policies to exert a pull on native health workers who are working elsewhere to return to the province.
The health network continues to be consolidated, developed from the province to districts, communes and villages. Medical facilities and equipment have been gradually modernised with better investment to serve the basic needs for disease prevention and treatment.
With good investments for human resource development and infrastructure and equipment modernisation, the health sector of Kon Tum province has made long strides. The quality of health checks and disease treatment is improved, while people enjoy better service. Medical services are being developed and many techniques have been deployed at medical facilities like CT scanning, brain surgery, longo surgery, phaco surgery, laparoscopic surgery, retrograde endoscopic lithotripsy using laser technology at the Kon Tum General Hospital; newborn care, gynaecological surgery and other surgeries at the Ngoc Hoi General Hospital; and clinical and pre-clinical techniques services at district hospitals. Besides, the Kon Tum General Hospital has deployed an additional 104 examination and treatment techniques usually assigned to centrally run hospitals in recent years.
Ms Nguyen Thi Ven, Director of Kon Tum Department of Health, said the health service has covered all levels (province, district, commune and village). The province will focus on improving human resource quality to ensure the best health service for people. To do so, the sector needs to continue training and retaining activities to upgrade specifications, expertise and knowledge of health workers, particularly healthcare standards for grassroots health workers. Besides, the health sector implemented Decision 44/2009/QD-UBND dated July 31, 2009 of Kon Tum Provincial People’s Committee on promulgation of policies to support public servants and officials to follow continuation study at tertiary level and higher and attract health specialists working in other localities and graduated students to work for the province. Permanently-employed doctors will be assigned tasks and working places as expected.
Hong Hanh
Vietnamese
