VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam currently has only one mental doctor per 100,000 residents. Some provinces have only one mental physician, not a single mental doctor.

Clinics at commune and ward levels do not have mental doctors, while other nurses and doctors do not have specialized knowledge of mental diseases, said Ass. Prof. Tran Huu Binh, former dean of the National Mental Health Institute, at a recent seminar.

La Duc Cuong, director of the Hanoi-based Central Psychiatric Hospital, said that Vietnam lacks policies to attract doctors to mental hospitals. Low income and hard work prevent mental hospitals, particularly provincial hospitals, from sufficiently recruiting doctors.

“Vietnam aims to raise the rate of mental doctors to two per 100,000 residents. Thus, the country still lacks 800 doctors. We train around 100 mental doctors annually so we need at least 14 years to reach the 2/100,000 rate. During this time, some doctors will retire. If we do not have a specialized training plan, this goal will not be achieved,” Mr. Cuong said.

Experts also said that the society’s understanding of mental diseases is short. Many families that have mental patients do not know basic knowledge about the disease.

A national survey of Vietnamese youth and juvenile in 2008 shows that of over 10,000 young people, over 73 percent used to be bored and over 4 percent used to think of suicide. These rates are higher than those in 2003.

Le Ha