Many attendees at the HCM City People’s Committee supervision session on promoting digital transformation shared the concern. HCM City is a ‘super city’, with leading universities in the country, but it lacks human resources for digital transformation.

The deputy chair of the HCM City People’s Committee, Tran Thi Dieu Thuy, admitted that the problem exists, and said the municipal authorities have been applying solutions to solve the matter.

Thuy pointed out there are many universities which produce workers for the information technology industry, but they don’t work for local government. It is difficult to attract IT talents to the public administration sector because state agencies are less competitive than non-state enterprises. The pay offered by non-state enterprises is much higher than that offered by the public sector.

Thuy reported that the city has gained important achievements in digital transformation recently. The city has launched a ‘digital citizen app’, which will help people be closer to local authorities.

People can report events, send comments and make suggestions on issues they are interested in, and supervise how the city’s agencies deal with issues reported by them.

The deployment of the app is part of the project on developing applications for population data, identification and electronic authentication.

In early November, the city launched an electronic health book and criminal records online. The city is focusing on developing a digital society and citizens through a community digital transformation system.

In her closing speech, HCM City People’s Council chair Nguyen Thi Le said that digital transformation has brought encouraging results, including a shared data integration platform, an online administrative procedure settlement system, apps for traffic, healthcare, and education management, contributing to improving people's lives and enhancing business competitiveness.

Regarding the problems, Le cited slow IT applications because of complicated procedures, the lack of connectivity and data sharing among state agencies, and the lack of highly qualified workers in digital technology.

The HCM City People’s Council has requested municipal authorities to urgently deploy solutions to solve problems in procedures and resources; and optimize connection and data sharing among units.

The HCM City People’s Committee has been asked to prioritize digital human resources, with the focus on providing refresher training courses to improve civil servants’ qualifications with the aim of supporting people and businesses.

Ho Van