Tran Van Thanh, 38, in HCM City, worked as a nurse at a general hospital for four years and received VND5 million a month. As the income was modest, he decided to give up the job in 2018.

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, Thanh returned to the healthcare sector, working at a medical station in Cau Kho ward in district 1 since August 2021. At that time, the number of deaths because of Covid-19 was about 100 cases a day.

Thanh then decided to join the fight against the pandemic for two reasons – earning money to feed his family and contributing to the city’s efforts to combat the pandemic.

“This is really a hard job, but I don’t complain about it. I worked constantly until last April. HCM City just escaped Covid-19 when the dengue epidemic appeared,” Thanh said. 

Covid-19 has been controlled, but the rotating night-duty scheme is still maintained. When he was on duty, he had to work at the medical station from 7 am to 4 pm the next day, or 30 hours continuously.

There is a heavy workload at medical stations as the dengue epidemic is at a peak. Medical workers have to visit every house, examine every construction work, small alleys and every corner to detect mosquito larvae.

“You may think that it’s easy to fight the dengue epidemic. But you are wrong. If policemen come to people’s houses together with medical staff, people will be cooperative with us. If not, people will talk back,” he said.

For such hard work, he receives VND4.1 million a month, which cannot feed him in HCM City, let alone his wife and an 8-year-old child.

According to Thanh, only veteran officers can stay at medical stations. This is because older people hesitate to shift to other jobs, while their incomes are better thanks to their longer service.

“After finishing high school, I studied at Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine to obtain an intermediate level in the profession. I want to study continuously, but with such an income, I can’t do this,” he said. 

So he decided to leave the healthcare sector again. Now he works as a Grab taxi motorbike driver.

“Now I can earn VND400,000-500,000 a day. This is also a hard work, but the income is worth my effort,” he said, adding that with his current job, he hopes to save enough money to study.

“I still miss the medical profession, but I am sure I won’t return to the medical station,” he said.

A report showed that in HCM City in 2021, more than 1,000 medical workers resigned. The figure was 400 in the first quarter of 2022, which was attributed to Covid-19.

In Hanoi, the latest report showed that nearly 900 medical workers have resigned. In 2021, as many as 532 asked for resignation, and 82 moved to another business. In the first four months of 2022, the figures were 226 and 17, respectively.

In Dong Nai, in the first six months of this year, 230 doctors, nurses and technicians in the public healthcare sector left, which was much higher than in previous years.

In Gia Lai, 110 medical workers resigned in 2021, and 23 medical workers resigned in H1, including six doctors.

On June 29, the Ministry of Health (MOH) requested non-business units under the ministry’s management and healthcare departments in cities/provinces to report about the medical staff resignation situational order to have reasonable solutions. 

Doctor Truong Huu Khanh from the HCM City Children’s Hospital No1 said medical workers need to be paid well, worth their efforts. The other thing that needs to be done to retain workers is create a favorable working environment for young doctors to study and promote their abilities.

Commenting about the departure of his colleagues from public medical establishments, Khanh said this puts poor patients at a disadvantage.

He said private hospitals in Vietnam have been developing very well, with modern facilities and high-quality services, but they are reserved for high income earners only. Poor patients can only go to public hospitals.

“If all the doctors at public hospitals leave, who will examine poor patients?” he said.

Linh Giao