(VOVWORLD) - Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long was the first to field questions on Wednesday as the 15th National Assembly began a two-and-a-half-day Q&A session.
 Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long (Photo: quochoi.vn) |
Minister Long addressed the COVID-19 fight; vaccine rollout and production; investment in grassroots health clinics and preventive medicine; management of COVID-19 testing services, medical equipment, and test kits; improvement of health service quality in different regions; and training of medical workers.
According to Minister Long, Vietnam is transitioning to co-existing safely with the coronavirus and the Ministry of Health is assessing the severity of the pandemic in each locality to design proper response measures. Medical infrastructure and intensive care units top their to-do list, said Minister Long.
COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed to localities, which are carefully overseeing their vaccination rollout, giving priority to people over 65 years old. Vaccination of children has been carried out in high-risk areas and began nationwide in November. The Ministry of Health is planning to administer booster shots.
Minister Long told lawmakers, “Two homegrown vaccines are going through Phase 3 clinical trials. The Ministry of Health has simplified procedures but has adhered to safety criteria. An ethics committee and a licensing board have been formed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. We really hope our domestically produced vaccines will be available soon.”
Mr. Long said medical personnel are always a top concern of the Ministry of Health, which has tried to attract human resources to public medical units. Each year Vietnam has 7,000 new graduate doctors. Long said the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important grassroots health units are to the whole system, so investment in grassroots healthcare is urgent and critical.
“The healthcare system is basically set for this level of the pandemic, but if things get worse, it fails. Improvement of healthcare at the communal level is our big concern. We plan to send communal health workers in shifts to district-level hospitals, build remote health examination platforms, and create groups of family doctors from both private and public hospitals,” said Minister Long.