South to get new private hospitals

The southern province of Dong Nai has 11 private hospitals now in various stages of planning or construction, worth a combined VND4 trillion (US$228.6 million), according to director of the province’s health department Tu Thanh Chuong.

All are expected to begin operations by the end of 2010, providing up to 3,000 beds, Chuong says.

"These 11 projects demonstrate the province’s success in calling for private investment in the healthcare sector and will help ease the overload of public hospitals," he adds. "Currently, the province has 17 hospitals with 4,200 beds for a population of 2.5 million. That works out to only 17 beds per 10,000 people."

The new projects will double that figure and include a 250-bed general hospital built at the cost of VND350 billion by a joint venture of the Dong Nai Food Corporation and Singapore’s New Toyo; a 1,400-bed, VND1.9 trillion ($108.6 million) general hospital being developed by the State-owned DIC company; and the Ngoc Tam Hospital Joint Stock Co’s 500-bed general hospital located on a 70ha area in Nhon Trach District.

Investors in these projects were given preferences, including waiver of land-use fees and tax exemptions, in line with Government Decree No 69/2008/ND-CP, which encourages more private investment in healthcare.

"In a time of economic downturn, these projects are also important because they will help create jobs for local workers," says Chuong. But he expresses worry about the province’s shortage of labourers in the health sector.

Nearby HCM City’s 24 privately-invested hospitals have already absorbed many of the qualified healthcare workers from the province, he says.

To deal with the shortage, the provincial health department plans to attract 100 doctors by offering them allowances one-to-three-times higher than their salaries.

"The construction of private hospitals ... will possibly create a brain drain from public to private hospitals. Limiting the brain-drain will require efforts from not only the province but also the Government," Chuong says. "Since the coming into being of these private hospitals will create competition among hospitals, I hope that service quality in public hospitals will also improve."

(Source: VNS)