DANANG – The Danang Department of Health is preparing a comprehensive policy for public health workers of the city for the 2022-2025 period at a time when hundreds of healthcare staff and officers have quit their jobs.
A draft resolution on the comprehensive policy completed by the Danang Department of Health is being circulated to seek opinions before being submitted to the competent authorities for approval.
The resolution has three main contents. The first one is the allowance policy for healthcare staff at all levels and special treatment for the health workforce at the grassroots level and units in difficulty by the municipal budget.
The second one is providing suitable training to each healthcare level and unit, focusing on professional training for a specialist team.
The third one is a policy to attract general practitioners and postgraduates to develop a high-quality workforce for the public sector.
A comprehensive policy for public health workers is essential for Danang, especially as the city sis facing a severe shortage in healthcare due to the recent mass resignations.
According to Danang’s statistics, from the beginning of 2021 to June 30, 2022, the total number of health workers in the city quitting their jobs was 248. Of these, 119 were doctors, 42 were nurses, 14 were medical technicians, 12 were pharmacists and 57 belonged to other posts. At the same time, Danang’s public healthcare sector also witnessed 83 health workers retire.
The reasons for the health workers’ resignations are not new as they mainly originated from the nature of the sector — hardships and high pressure. They must continuously participate in training courses to stay updated with professional knowledge and improve their skills.
Moreover, health workers are at high risk of disease exposure while treating patients and are paid unsatisfactory salaries and allowances.
To realize the policy, the Danang Department of Health proposed to allocate a monthly amount from the municipal budget to support doctors and healthcare staff at all levels with a total amount of VND4.5 billion. Specifically, a doctor shall receive an allowance of VND1.5 million per month, health workers VND1 million, and administrative staff VND500,000.
Besides, many attractive perks will be offered to attract talent in the healthcare sector, such as apartment lease incentives, preferential loans for purchasing social housing and one-off financial support for long-term working commitments.
Danang has over 4,000 health workers who received professional training in 2021.
