Phone lines open to insured patients

LookAtVietnam - The Huu Nghi hospital in Hanoi and Cho Ray and Thong Nhat hospitals in HCM City are now allowing insured patients to make appointments by telephone, under a programme launched by the Ministry of Health on July 2.

At the Huu Nghi Hospital, Hanoi.

Seven other central hospitals – the Central Obstetrics Hospital, Viet Duc Hospital, K (Cancer) Hospital, Bach Mai Hospital, the Eye Hospital, Paediatric Hospital and Hue Central Hospital – are also preparing to participate in the programme, part of a ministry plan to improve service to patients covered by health insurance.

While Viet Duc Hospital and K (Cancer) Hospital reported that they didn’t yet have enough telephone lines for the programme, hospitals that have set up the service reported that few patients were using it.

On the first day of the programme, Huu Nghi Hospital’s Examination Ward B received only 10 phone calls from patients, although the hospital admitted that the phone number to call (0439974964) was only made public three days earlier.

Hospital director Le Van Thach said he supported the programme because it would make patients more likely to seek preventative care.

“The programme is sensible, especially in a hospital in which most patients use health insurance cards,” he said.

Day in advance

Ward administrator Tran Thu Huong said patients should make appointments 24 hours in advance as up to 700 patients had to be seen in a ward each day.

Thong Nhat Hospital said it installed telephone lines last August, with four telephone operators receiving calls 24 hours a day.

“The lines receive only seven to 10 phone calls a day,” said Nguyen Vinh Phuc, head of the hospital’s exam ward, noting that hundreds of patients were waiting for examination on a walk-in basis.
 
VNN/VNS