HCMC – The HCMC government has proposed an annual budget of over VND138 billion to give perks to doctors, nurses and employees at local healthcare stations to improve the capacity of the grassroots medical system until 2025.
Speaking at the fifth session of the 10th HCMC People’s Council today, April 7, Phan Thi Thang, vice chairwoman of the HCMC People’s Committee, put forth the financial support policy to build the capacity of the ward- and commune-level healthcare stations until 2025.
As the country has chosen to live with the Covid-19 pandemic, the grassroots healthcare systems will have to be strengthened to ease the burden of hospitals.
During the fourth wave of the pandemic, the grassroots healthcare system in HCMC exposed weaknesses such as lacking in health workers and medical equipment. Over the past three months, some 400 medical workers in the city quit their jobs due to low incomes or an unfavorable work environment, according to the municipal Department of Health.
Under the proposal, HCMC will support three groups of workers at 310 healthcare stations in the city from now until 2025. Accordingly, doctors will receive VND60 million for 18 months, while nurses will get VND30 million each for nine months. The aid is expected to attract 300 doctors and 100 nurses each year, with total spending of VND16 billion.
In addition, retired doctors working at healthcare stations will get a monthly wage of VND9 million, while a monthly wage of VND7 million will be paid to other retired medical workers. The city’s healthcare stations will need some 890 people, with a total payroll of some VND81.5 billion.
The city also proposed offering a monthly allowance of VND5.5 million to each of the sanitation employees and security guards at healthcare stations, with a total spend of some VND41 billion.
At the council session, the municipal government proposed the council pass a resolution to support volunteers joining the Covid response effort, the local media reported.
The city will need nearly 5,900 volunteers for quarantine centers and Covid treatment facilities to brace for some 20,000 Covid cases a day, with the budget spending in 2022 estimated at VND228 billion. Each of these volunteers will get VND130,000 a day.
