Illustration (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA)- Only 3 percent of doctors in local health facilities correctly diagnose thefive most common diseases in Vietnam, a recent study reveals.
The findings stem frominterviews and observation of 1,000 doctors working at 78 district-levelhospitals and 246 communal health stations. The Health Strategy and PolicyInstitute (HSPI) under the Ministry of Health, which led the 2015 research,randomly surveyed the doctors across six cities and provinces representative ofdifferent regions of the country.
The one-year study, thefirst of its kind in Vietnam striving to evaluate the quality of healthcarestaff in local facilities, showed that only three percent of doctors managed todiagnose children’s diarrhea and pneumonia, tuberculosis, diabetes type 2 andhypertension.
The rate, however,rocketed to 36 and 48 percent, respectively, for doctorswho correctly diagnosed three and four of the five diseases. There were still11 percent who could only diagnose two diseases and two percent for onedisease.
The researchers did notexplain the low rate of diagnosis but their findings nonetheless indicate someof the problems involved.
They found that on average,doctors in local health facilities fail to ask about half the questionsnecessary to diagnose an illness. For example, they only asked patients threeout of eight questions needed to diagnose hypertension and diabetes, five of 13for tuberculosis, five of 11 for diarrhea and one-third of the questions tocorrectly identify pneumonia.
Doctors also onlyperformed about half the necessary examinations.
“A patient withpneumonia is only asked whether he coughs, but is often not asked about phlegmor breathing troubles,” said HSPI head Khuong Anh Tuan.
Tuan also warned aboutinappropriate prescriptions resulting from this diagnosis failure.
“Nearly 48 percent ofdoctors prescribed incorrectly for children with pneumonia,” he said.
Some doctors alsoprescribed “harmful medicine”, according to the research, which showed thatsome 70 percent of doctors decided to give corticosteroidal medicine forpneumonia to children and approximately 34 and 47 percent to treat patientswith hypertension and diabetes.
Former head of the BachMai Hospital Pediatrics Department, Dr Nguyen Tien Dung, said corticosteroidsare effective but have many side effects and "should be restricted”.
“Corticosteroidalmedicine gradually breaks down the children’s immune system while frequentlycausing osteoporosis or rickets in the children,” Dung said.
Deputy Minister ofHealth, Pham Le Tuan, acknowledged that the research clearly reflects thequality of local health facilities.
“It was easy to see thatthe healthcare services of local facilities are limited, resulting in a massinflux of patients to central-level hospitals in big cities due to doubts overtheir local health providers,” he said.
This, in turn, overloadsbig hospitals and the Ministry of Health is still struggling to resolve theproblem, which many believe means improving the quality of local healthcare.
Earlier this month,Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a master plan for developing a stronglocal-level healthcare system toward 2025, which will monitor the health of allresidents where they live.
But the ambitious planwill take time to yield results. In the meantime, people will often have totravel dozens of kilometres to get proper treatment. – VNA
The findings stem frominterviews and observation of 1,000 doctors working at 78 district-levelhospitals and 246 communal health stations. The Health Strategy and PolicyInstitute (HSPI) under the Ministry of Health, which led the 2015 research,randomly surveyed the doctors across six cities and provinces representative ofdifferent regions of the country.
The one-year study, thefirst of its kind in Vietnam striving to evaluate the quality of healthcarestaff in local facilities, showed that only three percent of doctors managed todiagnose children’s diarrhea and pneumonia, tuberculosis, diabetes type 2 andhypertension.
The rate, however,rocketed to 36 and 48 percent, respectively, for doctorswho correctly diagnosed three and four of the five diseases. There were still11 percent who could only diagnose two diseases and two percent for onedisease.
The researchers did notexplain the low rate of diagnosis but their findings nonetheless indicate someof the problems involved.
They found that on average,doctors in local health facilities fail to ask about half the questionsnecessary to diagnose an illness. For example, they only asked patients threeout of eight questions needed to diagnose hypertension and diabetes, five of 13for tuberculosis, five of 11 for diarrhea and one-third of the questions tocorrectly identify pneumonia.
Doctors also onlyperformed about half the necessary examinations.
“A patient withpneumonia is only asked whether he coughs, but is often not asked about phlegmor breathing troubles,” said HSPI head Khuong Anh Tuan.
Tuan also warned aboutinappropriate prescriptions resulting from this diagnosis failure.
“Nearly 48 percent ofdoctors prescribed incorrectly for children with pneumonia,” he said.
Some doctors alsoprescribed “harmful medicine”, according to the research, which showed thatsome 70 percent of doctors decided to give corticosteroidal medicine forpneumonia to children and approximately 34 and 47 percent to treat patientswith hypertension and diabetes.
Former head of the BachMai Hospital Pediatrics Department, Dr Nguyen Tien Dung, said corticosteroidsare effective but have many side effects and "should be restricted”.
“Corticosteroidalmedicine gradually breaks down the children’s immune system while frequentlycausing osteoporosis or rickets in the children,” Dung said.
Deputy Minister ofHealth, Pham Le Tuan, acknowledged that the research clearly reflects thequality of local health facilities.
“It was easy to see thatthe healthcare services of local facilities are limited, resulting in a massinflux of patients to central-level hospitals in big cities due to doubts overtheir local health providers,” he said.
This, in turn, overloadsbig hospitals and the Ministry of Health is still struggling to resolve theproblem, which many believe means improving the quality of local healthcare.
Earlier this month,Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a master plan for developing a stronglocal-level healthcare system toward 2025, which will monitor the health of allresidents where they live.
But the ambitious planwill take time to yield results. In the meantime, people will often have totravel dozens of kilometres to get proper treatment. – VNA
VNA
