A patient at Gia Dinh People’s Hospital pays her hospital fee via an automatic payment kiosk. — Photo courtesy of the hospital

The hospital’s patients can pay via smart health cards that store their information and are integrated with the hospital payment system.

They can also pay via POS which is a service for patients and their relatives to pay through bank cards. Payment via QR Code or an automatic payment kiosk is also accepted.

The hospital on Thursday signed an agreement with the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam to carry out cashless payment services.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dr Nguyen Anh Dung, the hospital’s director, said the hospital had followed the instruction on cashless payment from the Department of Health and the central Government.

The service is one of many offered at the hospital to improve quality of medical treatment and to reform administrative procedures, with the aim of increasing patient satisfaction, Dung said.

The service is part of the digital transformation process towards becoming a smart hospital, he added.

Deputy Head of the city's Department of Health Tang Chi Thuong said that the city’s health sector is moving toward smart health, which is part of the smart city project.

The department will introduce Gia Dinh Hospital’s model of cashless payment to other hospitals in the city if a large number of patients use it, Thuong said.  

Cho Ray Hospital, University Medical Centre, Thu Duc District Hospital in the city also accept cashless payments, he added.  VNS

HCM City hospitals switch increasingly to cashless payment

The shift towards electronic payment is now an established trend with half of HCM City’s public hospitals embracing it, health authorities have said.