The Ministry of Home Affairs has developed the Satisfaction Index of Public Administration Services to measure satisfaction with public services, Deputy Minister Nguyen Tien Dinh has said.

At a conference held on August 20, Dinh said the measure is part of the country’s Public Administrative Reforms 2011-20 Master Plan that targets improved effectiveness and efficiency of public administrative services, enhanced quality of public services and better service delivery to organisation and citizens.

The plan includes target satisfaction rates of 60 percent by 2015 and more than 80 percent by 2020. A specific policy for provinces to establish mechanisms for feedback surveys by 2015 is also built into the plan.

At present, around 40 percent of citizens are happy with the quality of services, Dinh said, adding that his ministry planned to conduct a survey on the experiences of about 30,000 citizens across 20 centrally-run cities and provinces nationwide, examining the fields of land use, healthcare, education and business licensing.

“To build a more efficient transparent administration, it is a must that people participate in policy making and implementation,” he said.

Early this year, the ministry and the World Bank conducted a pilot survey in Thanh Hoa and Phu Tho provinces in the north and central Binh Dinh province.

People were asked about their experiences when using public services for the issuance of land use right certificates, construction permits, medical practice certificates, travel business licences, business registration and healthcare.

The pilot survey revealed that more than 80 percent of participants saying they were satisfied with selected services in their localities.

At the conference, Director of Thanh Hoa’s Home Affairs Department Nguyen Xuan Dung said the survey told reasons why people were not happy with public service delivery.

They included cumbersome administrative procedures, poor infrastructure, improper skills and work attitudes of civil servants, Dung said.

The results have been helpful for provincial governments to identify new actions to be carried out to improve satisfaction with public services, he said.-VNA