Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien has emphasised the importance of a public private partnership (PPP) model to raising healthcare quality and reduce overloads at public hospitals.

In her opening remarks at a conference in Hanoi on March 14, Tien said her ministry is working out various projects to reduce the burden on hospitals at central and grassroots levels, focusing on increasing the number of patient beds, satellite hospitals, family doctors and technology transfers from public to private hospitals.

The majority of the country’s 170 private hospitals (out of a total of 1,200 hospitals) are equipped with modern equipment and qualified medical workers, but less than 60 percent of their patient beds have been used, according to the ministry’s Department of Medical Examination and Treatment (DMET).

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the DMET, said the partnership should be established on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, shared responsibility and transparency within its legal framework.

He mentioned possible collaboration in moving patients for treatment at well-equipped private hospitals from public hospitals, and encouraged private ones to upgrade their facilities and raise the capabilities of doctors and health workers as well as enhance their involvement in the system of satellite hospitals.

At the event, a representative from the private VINMEC International Hospital suggested the ministry facilitate professional exchanges between doctors from public and private hospitals and grant work permits for foreign doctors to practise at private hospitals.-VNA