Scene of the session of the National Assembly on the morning of January 7th. Illustration photo: Doan Tan/TTXVN
Ministry of Health said that the ministry and local health ministries have so far issued 66,795 operating licenses and 637,519 practice licenses/practice certificates in the field of medical examination and treatment (excluding Police, Ministry of Defense). In particular, the number of operating license applications to the Ministry of Health represents less than 1.5% of the total number of operating licenses nationwide (795 applications).
Exists in license and practice certificates
From the beginning of 2024 to today, the Ministry of Health has issued 28 new operating licenses to private hospitals (16 operating licenses in the same period last year, an increase of 75%); Issued 57 decisions to adjust operating licenses due to the change in the scope of professional activity and the change in the scope of operations (48 decisions in the same period last year, an increase of 18.75%). In principle, the Ministry of Health implemented the outstanding documents quickly. Currently, the number of new applications for operating licenses that have just been submitted and have not yet been assessed by the Ministry of Health is:
The law on medical examinations and treatment provides for new regulations for the re-issuance of practice licenses for doctors after five years and increases the number of training courses in medical specialties, subjects that are eligible for a practice license, as well as uniform guidelines from the ministry to establish conditions for the development to create private medical examination and treatment facilities. This has led to an increase in the number of applications for practice licenses (where more specific titles are granted for medical examinations and treatment) and business licenses (the basic form of medical examinations and treatment organized more flexibly). Preliminary estimates suggest the number of applications for professional licenses is increasing by approximately 5%.
The deficiencies and limitations mentioned by the Ministry of Health in the approval and practice certificates in the field of medical examination and treatment are that the inspection and investigation work is not carried out regularly and thoroughly, and that authorities, relevant authorities and people have not been mobilized at all levels of the region jointly participate in the inspection and monitoring of private medical examination and treatment activities.
Slow digital transformation due to problems in construction and evaluation, difficulties in conducting tenders, lack of resources for deploying and updating software, resulting in the inability to meet the connection requirements for the implementation of Project 06 Government on the topic “Development of applications for population data, electronic identification and authentication to support the national digital transformation in the period 2022 – 2025, vision to 2030”. Lack of projects and programs to improve the capacity and quality of medical examination and treatment practice management.
According to the Ministry of Health, most health ministries report a lack of personnel for practice management and the implementation of administrative procedures for issuing operating licenses and practice licenses, while the number of professions and medical examination and treatment facilities that need a license to practice and operate are very small large. Most employees perform many other tasks in addition to directing medical examination, treatment, prevention and assessment. There is a shortage of staff to perform practice management tasks due to the need to streamline staffing and multitask each year while the workload continues to increase.
Promote digital transformation, decentralization and decentralization
Promoting digital transformation, decentralization and decentralization of powers in the implementation of administrative procedures are the solutions proposed by this Ministry to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings and limitations. The Ministry of Health said it will focus on implementing three breakthrough solutions in licensing medical examination and treatment activities, including: building a new assessment process towards streamlining, transparency, streamlining and reducing assessment time; Quadrupling the number of assessment teams and doubling the number of personnel performing state administrative tasks in issuing practice licenses and operating licenses; Greater coordination between licensing agencies and institutions on training and guidance on the development of assessment dossiers.
In order to promote decentralization and decentralization of powers in the implementation of administrative procedures, the Ministry of Health has completed the development of documents and invited opinions from 63 provincial and city-level people’s committees on the decentralization of approval powers in this area. Accordingly, publication is expected in December 12.
In addition, the Ministry of Health has also completed the review and is currently carrying out procedures to enable the Government to continue promoting the decentralization of powers in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 96/2023/ND-CP, which provides a number of details regulates, taking into account Articles of the Law on medical examination and treatment. It is expected that after decentralization, the Ministry of Health will reduce the number of administrative procedures for issuing professional and practice licenses by about 70%.
In order to promote digital transformation, the Ministry of Health is developing and submitting to the Government a decree establishing a national database for medical improvement of the application of information technology in medical management activities in general and in medical examination and treatment activities, issuance of operating licenses and practice licenses in particular. At the same time, the national system for managing medical examination and treatment practice should be improved to ensure the disclosure of information about medical examination and treatment facilities and doctors, thereby saving time and human resources in practice management.
As part of the administrative procedure reform, the Ministry of Health has developed 7 internal processes for issuing operating licenses and medical examination and treatment practice licenses, to specifically guide documents and implementation documents, and to gradually concretize detailed documents so that companies know the content and requirements of which documents need to be prepared.
The internal process has been simplified by 2 to 5 steps (depending on the process) compared to the previous process. Shorten the average time for carrying out operating authorization and practice authorization procedures by an average of 10 to 20%, depending on the application (depending on the scope, organizational form, application form, emergency case). The internal process also includes checklist templates that help accelerate the assessment process, ensure consistent implementation in the document processing process and transparently present the contents, requirements, conditions and finances of the evidence.
In addition, the ministry strengthens inspection, investigation and monitoring, and organizes interdisciplinary inspection teams to review the activities of private medical examination and treatment institutions and take strict action against individuals and organizations for violations. Establish inspection teams to review the medical examination and treatment inspection activities of provincial and centrally administered city health authorities.
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