Lawmakers have urged for careful consideration before shifting tuition fees and hospital fees to a service price mechanism, saying that they closely effected people's lives.

Discussing the draft Law on Charges and Fees at the ongoing 9th session of the 13th National Assembly (NA) in Ha Noi yesterday, NA deputies said that the change, if it happened, must be in accordance with the country's development and people's incomes.

The discussion followed a proposal by the Ministry of Finance to the draft law, for which 26 types of existing charges and fees would be abolished and shifted to the service price mechanism.

Some NA deputies suggested a separate chapter for tuition fees and hospital fees, or have a separate policy for these two fees.

Nguyen Van Tien from the southern province of Tien Giang said it would be better if the fees remained in the draft law and be referred to as "fees" rather than listed as "prices".

He explained that "prices" could only be changed following market fluctuations and regulated by different ministries, while "fees" could only be controlled by the Ministry of Finance.

While supporting the idea, Tran Van Do from the southern province of An Giang said that school and hospital fees should not be shifted to the mechanism.

"If we cannot apply the price mechanism with our social welfare policy, I think we should not do this," he said.

"What we need to do is help people, especially the poor, to access to education and training and healthcare, so it will take several years to do this."

Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam from HCM City told the NA that the draft law needed to mention equity in charges and fees collection. She said the law must resolve the differences in the rights of the people and State employees harmoniously. Many noted that the collection of fees made by individuals and non-State bodies should be in line with the State fee policy, with a view to spur socialisation and international integration.

Deputy Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy from the central city of Da Nang also opposed the draft law regulations, noting that the bill has failed to revise some of the fees, including school fee and hospital fee, in line with market mechanisms.

She stressed that school and hospital fees should be included in the draft law.

Many deputies pointed out that the classification of fee and charge was not clear and asked authorised bodies to review all kinds of fees and charges to ensure transparency and consistency.

Supervision programme

Also yesterday, NA deputies approved a resolution on the NA's supervision programme for 2016.

At the 11th session of the 13th NA next year, lawmakers will scrutinise the implementation of socio-economic development tasks and the State budget in 2015 and early 2016 as well as discuss reports of the National Assembly, NA Standing Committee, State President, Prime Minister and top leaders of the People's Supreme Court, People's Supreme Procuracy and State Audit.

Deputies are also looking into addressing voter petitions at the 10th sitting of the 13th National Assembly.

At the first session of the 14th National Assembly, lawmakers will discuss reports on the implementation of socio-economic development tasks in the first six months of 2016 and measures to fulfil missions in the second half of the year; as well as reports on the election of NA members in the 14th tenure and of People's Councils for the 2016-2021 term.

Meanwhile, at the second session of the 14th National Assembly, deputies will discuss Government reports on the 2016-2021 socio-economic development plan, conduct Q&A sessions and inspect the implementation of the national target programme on building new-style rural areas betweenin line with agricultural restructuring.

In the afternoon, the NA had a closed-door session on dismissing the NA deputy status of Chau Thi Thu Nga, a representative from Ha Noi. 

VNS