Nguyen Thi Thu Ha of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province had to wait from 7am to 11.30am at the University Medical Centre in HCM City's District 5 before it was her turn to see the doctor.
And then, the 53-year-old had to wait further for an endoscopy, the result, and to get medicines prescribed for her stomach ulcer. By then it was 3pm.
She had gotten up at 4am and taken a bus from home.
A month earlier she had gone to the Vung Tau city General Hospital and doctors there said that she had many ailments including the ulcer.
However, she and her family did not trust them and, taking her neighbours'advice, she decided to come to the HCM City hospital for confirmation.
"When I came to the hospital, I saw a large of number of patients waiting. Some of them were waiting since 4am."
Like Ha, many patients from other provinces do not trust local doctors and flock to the city's hospitals.
All major city medical facilities like Cho Ray, the University Medical Centre, the Hospital of Trauma and Orthopaedics, People's Hospital 115, Tu Du Obstetrics Hospital, and the Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Hospital are crowded even before they open.
Dr Tang Chi Thuong, head of the Paediatric Hospital No 1, said while his hospital could handle 1,000 patients a day, at times like epidemics, it often took in 5,200.
Nearly half were from nearby provinces, he added.
Statistics from the Department of Health show that HCM City hospitals have only 23,000 beds, much short of the need without even including the patients coming from outside.
Dr Pham Viet Thanh, head of the Department of Health, pointed out patients from other provinces could get treated at city hospitals and enjoy health insurance, something they did not do in the past.
Furthermore, doctors at Cho Ray Hospital said not only patients themselves but also some medical centres in other places did not want to treat their patients and transferred them to city hospitals, leading to an overload.
For instance, though many of the medical centres could treat appendicitis, they chose not to but to sent patients to the city.
But Thanh admitted the patient overload in the city would not ease unless the quality of treatment in provincial hospitals did not improve.
At a recent People's Council meeting, councillor Nguyen Quy Hoa suggested that city hospitals should create links with hospitals in nearby provinces to ease this problem.
He said doctors should go to those hospitals and train doctors there, thus improving their capacity to treat patients.
Source: VNS
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