The northern province of Bac Ninh on February 22 kicked off the second-phase of its polyclinic hospital expansion which now runs at 130 percent of design capacity.

When completed in 2012, the project─ worth almost 500 billion VND (roughly 26.3 million USD)─ will increase the number of beds from 400 to 1,000 and double its floor area to 44,000 square metres.

Although the doctors are able to use high technologies such as endoscopic surgery, the Bac Ninh polyclinic hospital only meets half its basic needs for hi-tech equipment.

Consequently, the hospital has to send a large number of patients to better equipped hospitals for treatments.

The Bac Ninh polyclinic hospital has provided medical check-ups and treatments to almost 300,000 patients per year since its construction in 2004./.