Hanoi 's municipal Department of Health has initiated a project toreduce overcrowding in hospitals over the next eight years, with a totalinvestment of more than 25.7 trillion VND (1.2 billion USD).

The project's funding will come from bonds, official development assistance and the city budget.

The department has proposed building 25 new hospitals with over 8,300beds, which will supplement the current 40 hospitals with around 8,000beds.

Fourteen hospitals will be modernised and six otherswill be enlarged. It is expected that by 2020 more than 5,200 new bedswill be available for use.

The project will also upgrade medical equipment and hospitals in the inner city.

The project aims to reach a ratio of eight doctors and 2.5 pharmacistsper 10,000 residents by 2020, up from the current ratio of seven doctorsand 1.5 pharmacists, according to department statistics.

Overcrowding is common in Saint Paul , Dong Da, Duc Giang, Soc Son, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Heart hospitals.

The department has reported that many hospitals are operating at over100 percent capacity. In some wards the rate was even higher: more than200 percent at Saint Paul 's Paediatrics Ward, 223 percent at the DucGiang's Paediatrics Ward and 261 percent at the Hanoi Obstetrics andGynaecology's Labour Ward A2.

The department's deputydirector Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong attributed the overcrowding in centralhospitals to better doctors and equipment there, drawing patients fromfar away.

Therefore she said the most important steptoward easing hospital overcrowding is improving the quality of doctorsand equipment in medical stations at the grassroots level.-VNA