VietNamNet Bridge – Ha Noi's city planners want to relocate hospitals out of the city centre, but the proposal has received mixed opinions from readers of Khoa hoc & Doi song (Science & Life) newspaper.


* Professor Ta Van Binh, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders agreed with the suggestion, adding that emergency centres were needed in the heart of the city instead.


Photo: VNA
I put forward the idea of removing hospitals and schools from the city to avoid overload long time ago. Hospitals would be easier to manage and would have better conditions and waste treatment facilities if they were shifted. Removal makes more sense with hospitals that specialise in treating contagious diseases.

However, if they are shifted, it would be difficult for other patients. In my opinion, Viet Nam should build emergency centres for those living in the city. Other patients can be transported by ambulance to outlying hospitals, even if they are tens of kilometres away.

To sustain patients, medicine can be given to them in ambulances. For instance, primary treatment for those suffering from myocardial infarction (heart disease) is already available in ambulances.

In foreign countries, I have seen many hospitals in the suburbs. They only retain old hospitals in cities to keep up a brand image.


* Professor Tran Van Khoa from the Army Medical Institute said moving hospitals could overload the suburbs.


Removing hospitals to suburbs is good for hospitals treating contagious diseases because they do not have enough room to expand. But moving other hospitals would create problems for city people because patients would have to go much further to receive treatment.

The pressure of overload would be shifted from cities to suburbs, but there would be an increase in the number of rural patients at the new hospitals. Another problem would be that health workers would have to go much further if sent to the suburbs. Is the State going to help them solve their new problems because they are already coping with many?

I think it is advisable to build hospitals with good facilities in districts and provinces to reduce the backlog of patients in cities. If they decide to remove hospitals out of the city, they should retain the main hospitals where they are.


* Doctor Tran Van Thuan, deputy director of Hospital K (cancer), also believed things could become too difficult if hospitals were moved.


In my opinion, hospitals should not be removed from the city. Instead, new hospitals or branches should be opened. Hospital K has three branches. Its new branch in the outlying district of Thanh Tri will have 1,000 beds when opened next year. It will help reduce the overload at the main hospital in Ha Noi's Quan Su Street, which dates back to 1923.

Not only is there a need to preserve and maintain this facility, its removal would create housing and education problems for them. I think we should keep the main hospital as a place to do research and apply high technology. A ward should also be kept for treatment, but most patients should attend establishments outside the city. But again, the long distance would also create difficulties for patients.


* Tran Dinh Giang Chau, a citizen from Ha Noi's Gia Lam District, could see the benefits of moving hospitals.

Decision not final, says ministry

Deputy Health Minister, Professor Nguyen Viet Tien, said the ministry had not decided on relocating central hospitals to the suburbs.

Tien said that in many countries, including Viet Nam, hospitals were usually built in locations where there were many people.

He said it was unreasonable to remove all hospitals out of the city, adding that extending existing institutions and opening new branches in the suburbs would be the best policy to deal with the backlog of patients


I am an elderly, so I don't enjoy going too far to receive treatment. However, city hospitals may be close, but sometimes it takes ages to reach them because of all the traffic jams. I'd rather go further if I could avoid traffic jams. If hospitals are shifted, patients would no longer have to share the same bed.


* Truong Thi Tu, from Ha Nam Province, believed moving hospitals would make travel inconvenient for most people.


I feel secure receiving treatment at city hospitals when I am seriously ill. Doctors from different hospitals are usually invited to help on complicated procedures. However, I am not so sure this would be convenient if hospitals were removed. On top of this, it is already costly to travel around the city, so going to outlying suburbs would make costs soar.


* Vuong Thi Tri Tuc, from Ha Noi's Hang Bo Street, said she would worry about patients needing emergency treatment if hospitals were relocated.


If hospitals were removed too far from the city centre, I am afraid that patients with serious diseases would die on the way to hospital. Ha Noi is far too crowded. Hospitals are already full – and there are patients and their families sitting around inside and outside. Extra travel would also create extra problems in emergency cases.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News