HCM City (VNA) - By 2020, HCM City’s public hospitals will no longer be overloadedand people will have access to high-quality health care, municipal officialspromise.

The entire health caresector will become a high-quality service industry by then, contributingsignificantly to the city’s socio-economic growth, Nguyen Tan Binh, Director ofthe local Department of Health, said.

To achieve thistarget, greater autonomy will be provided to public hospitals, reducing thefinancial pressure on the government, he told a meeting with city leaders lastweek.

Eighty two hospitalshave been granted autonomy since the city began implementing this policy in2006, he said.

Of them, 10 manageto mobilise all the revenues they need to operate while the remaining partlyfund themselves, he said.

Their autonomy hasseen them hire skilled medical professionals as well as improve facilities,equipment and the quality of care, he said.

Besides this, hesaid, the health sector has also increased investment in health careinfrastructure and medical technologies, including through public-privatepartnerships and low-interest rate borrowing.

As many as 16projects worth a total of 13.5 trillion VND (597.34 million USD) have beenundertaken in the past 10 years under the public-private partnership model, hesaid.

Ninety one otherswere funded by low-interest loans worth a total of 3.93 trillion VND (173.89million USD), and these include construction of new hospitals, expansion ofexisting ones, and purchase of medical equipment, he said.

Many new hospitalsare being built to reduce hospital overloading, including Cho Ray HospitalNo.2, Hospital 175, Thong Nhat Hospital, Pham Ngoc Thach Medical UniversityCentre, and Trauma and Orthopedic Hospital.

Dinh La Thang, Secretaryof the city Party Committee, said more autonomy should be given to publichospitals to improve the quality of care and patients’ satisfaction.

The health sectorshould focus on easing the load on hospitals and improving the quality of careby 2020, he added.-VNA