He cited recent news about the problems of public hospitals, including their proposal to stop the autonomy policy, the obstacles faced purchasing drugs and medical equipment through auctions, and the mass resignation of medical workers as examples of the “waste of responsibility”.

This has led to stagnation in the administrative apparatus, causing a waste of time, effort, money and business opportunities, Hau said.

Hau, a National Assembly deputy from Tay Ninh province, said that people have reasons to criticize state officials for their lack of struggle, lack of dynamism, and lack of spirit of "daring to think, daring to do and daring to take responsibility".

Most state officials are conscientious but their lack of a sense of responsibility causes immeasurable waste to society and the country, he stressed.

“It is a headache for many localities to use budgets effectively to meet the urgent requirements of voters, provided that the use does not violate regulations,” he said.

In many cases, many things should be done with regular expenses to save time, effort and costs, but regulations require that they have to be implemented with money from public investment. 

This involves complicated procedures to use public money, which wastes time.

Local authorities and state officials, who fear they may be accused of breaking the law and will face discipline, try to find ways to suit the regulations to avoid attention of the state audit agency. 

“No one wants to do this, but they have to. This happens in many localities in every budget period,” he said.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has compiled a statement to fix the problems while waiting for the Law on Public Investment to be amended.

“If a resolution on fixing the problems is issued, this will help remove obstacles for localities, ministries and state agencies. This will enable state officials with a sense of responsibility to put their responsibilities in the right places and promote responsibility to benefit people and the country,” he said.

Hau said if the National Assembly doesn’t approve the resolution on the issue, many state officials won’t dare do what they need to do. He urged the government to approve MOF’s proposal soon and submit a draft resolution on the issue to the National Assembly.

Deputy Pham Van Hoa from Dong Thap province said: “In some localities, big offices are built on large areas of land, but the capacity for public services is limited."

In principle, practicing thrift aims to have resources for investment and development, social security, national defense, improved productivity, and a better life. Practicing thrift doesn’t mean cutting expenditures on necessary things, or hesitating to make procurements and spending money in dribs and drabs.

Localities and agencies, for example, are not allowed to buy new cars and use old cars. But they are allowed to spend a lot of money on yearly repairs of the used cars.

Thu Hang - Tran Thuong