Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – The Public-PrivatePartnership (PPP) has been seen as one of the effective solutions toencouraging the non-State economic sectors to invest in healthcare, heard a workshopin Ho Chi Minh City on May 9.
Speaking at the workshop, Do Quy Hiep,deputy head of the PPP desk under the municipal Department of Planning andInvestment, said HCM City plans to allocate about 30 trillion VND (1.32 billionUSD) to investment projects during 2015-2020, of which 12 percent will servehealthcare.
However, he said, the city can afford justhalf of the amount while the remaining is waiting for investors.
As of April 2017, HCM City has 114 PPPprojects worth an estimated 131.74 trillion VND (5.8 billion USD) with nearly5.5 trillion VND (242 million USD) for healthcare, he said, adding that thereare ten pending medical projects in the locality.
Truong Vinh Long, Director General of HoaLam International Hospital, said PPP is one of the State’s open policies toaccelerate the synchronous public and private healthcare development.
He cited cooperation between Hoa LamInternational Hospital and 115 People’s Hospital as an example of the model,saying Hoa Lam is expected to help ease the overload suffered by the publichospital and offer high-quality services with almost equivalent prices topatients.
Representatives from US groups like AIM,Microsoft, Global Health Services Network and Varian Medical System said thePPP model has been applied by many countries worldwide.
They suggested investors engage in specificand clear contracts with public hospitals.
The Vietnamese Government should put forth aclear and time-limit legal framework to ensure long-term cooperation and easerisks for investors, they said.
The workshop was jointly held by the USConsulate General’s Commercial Affairs Office in HCM City and Hoa Lam InvestmentDevelopment Corporation.-VNA
