Associate Prof Dao Xuan Co, director of Bach Mai Hospital, said at a meeting with the press on July 12 that the working hours at the hospital would extend to 9 pm daily instead of 5 pm as previously applied.

People can register for an appointment with doctors via an app or the call center. Health  insurance coverage applies to all patients.

Also, the hospital has decided to begin receiving patients at 5-5.30 am in some departments.

The decisions were made by the hospital’s leaders to ease overloading. Since Bach Mai is a central hospital, the number of patients seeking medical exams very high. Many patients complained that they had to queue from 4am to wait for their turn to consult a doctor.

As for the Department of Diagnostic Imaging, the hospital has set reasonable slots for inpatients and outpatients. The morning is reserved for outpatients, while inpatients can come in the afternoon and evening until 2 am.

Bach Mai Hospital receives 8,000-10,000 people every day who come to have medical examinations. Many are from provinces and remote areas. With longer working hours, the patients will be able to have exams and receive diagnostic results so they can return home on the same day.

The paperwork at the hospital has improved significantly in recent years. Doctors do not have to print papers, which saves money and time for patients, and reduces costs for the hospital.

“Patients’ profiles are in an information system. Departments in the hospital communicate with each other, which allows physicians to grasp information about the medical examinations, prescriptions and treatments,” Co said.

“In the near future, patients will be granted a code and there will be no paper at the hospital,” he added.

On July 30, Co confirmed that all the work related to the plan on providing medical examinations in non-working hours has been completed. More than 2,000 doctors and staff at Bach Mai Hospital, including 500 clinical and paraclinical practitioners, have registered to work in unofficial hours. 

Many professors, associate professors and doctors with a high level of professional skills have registered to work in unofficial working hours. Many of them have decided to shut their own clinics to work at the hospital. 

Co said the hospital would apply a reasonable policy to help them work with peace of mind. They are legally protected and have better benefits than the clinics.

Co said all specialized departments will receive patients during unofficial working hours, including endocrinology, gastroenterology, musculoskeletal, respiratory, neurology, nephrology, cardiology, infectious diseases, hematology, intensive care, obstetrics, pediatrics, ENT, dentistry, and ophthalmology. The consulting rooms will be in the K1 building, convenient for patients.

Associate Prof Dr Vu Van Giap, deputy director of Bach Mai Hospital, said many staff at the hospital had a difficult time after the Covid-19 pandemic. They had to take extra jobs to earn a living, such as deliverymen and taxi motorbike drivers. 

The leadership of the hospital then had to mull over solutions to help medical workers increase their incomes using their professional knowledge.

When the resolution on providing medical examination services in unofficial working hours was approved, the hospital’s trade union collected opinions from its officers about the plan. All officers applauded the plan and after two days, 2.045 workers registered to work during unofficial hours.

Regarding the medical examination fees, the hospital has sent a document to the Ministry of Health, proposing that patients in unofficial hours will have their expenditures covered by Health Insurance. The testing operations such as X-rays, blood tests and ultrasounds will have results after two hours. The service fees in unofficial working hours are the same as fees in official hours.

Only a small part of the revenue earned from medical examination services in unofficial working hours will be paid to machine and equipment amortization, while the majority of revenue will be used to pay staff.

Bach Mai has 6,000-8,000 outpatients and 4,000 inpatients a day.

Vo Thu