Patients register for their health examination at the Hoai Duc district General Hospital. — VNA Hanoi (VNA) - Several major hospital construction projects that would haveprovided residents of the capital and its surroundings with thousands of bedshave been abandoned over the past decade.
Such was the case with the planned Ha Dong International Hospital in Ha Dong district,with a total area of about 16.65ha.
The project was approved by the former Ha Tay province People’s Committee (theprovince has since been merged into Hanoi). In 2008, the Ha Long Investment andDevelopment Co Ltd announced its investment in the new hospital complex.
In 2011, the Hanoi People’s Committee asked the investor to speed up theproject’s progress, but by 2014, the ground clearance had not even beencompleted.
Recently, the Aeon Vietnam Company signed a contract with the Ha Long companyto build a mall in Ha Dong district. The capital authorities have thus decidedto change the plan and approve a smaller hospital with a mall next door.
Under the new plan, the Ha Dong International Hospital will be built on 7.1hawith 600 beds, occupying nearly 43 percent of the land. And the remaining pieceof land will be used to build the mall on 9.5ha.
Another plan was approved in 2011 by the Hanoi People’s Committee to build fourhospitals, each with 1,000 beds, in four suburban districts to meet residents’demand.
Under the plan, the Northern General Hospital would be built in Me Linh district,scheduled to start in September 2011 and open for public use in June 2013. Thesecond hospital was to be built in Dan Phuong or Thach That district on 10ha,scheduled to start in September 2011.
The third hospital was planned for Gia Lam district and the fourth for Phu Xuyendistrict.
The Hanoi People’s Committee assigned the municipal Department of Planning andInvestment to mobilise capital for the plan.
Nguyen Xuan Truong, chairman of the Me Linh district People’s Committee, toldthe Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that after the municipal authoritiesissued a decision related to the Me Linh hospital, the district hospital movedto another place to make room for the new facility.
The new Me Linh hospital was expected to serve the demand of residents from SocSon, Dong Anh, Dan Phuong districts and neighbouring provinces, such as Vinh Phucand Phu Tho. “We looked forward to the project,” he said.
But local authorities appear to have changed their policies on medicalfacilities, preferring smaller, more specialised ones to major districthospitals.
At a recent conference between the Ministry of Health and the Hanoi People’sCommittee, Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that the Government agreed tobuild a paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology hospital in Quoc Oai district,and a dental, stomatology and ophthalmology hospital in a suburban district.
Officials of the Hanoi People’s Committee held that the city should not buildbig hospitals, and build smaller hospitals instead, located in residentialquarters so that residents can access them easily for examination andtreatment.-VNA
VNA
