HCM City (VNA) - Public hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City willbe allowed to employ doctors and other health staff members without the city’shousehold registration book starting in November, helping them solve a shortageof medical staff, according to the city Department of Health.

The current regulation whichallows state offices, departments and public establishments including hospitalsto employ only staff with an HCM City’s household registration book, had causeddifficulties for them in hiring.

The Department of Healthsaid that public hospitals, such as Pham Ngoc Thanh Hospital, Hospital forTropical Diseases, Cu Chi and Can Gio district hospitals, have not been able tohire doctors and other medical staff due to this regulation in spite that theywere in a severe shortage of the staff.

Dr Huynh Van Luyen, head ofthe Can Gio District Hospital, told Sai Gon Giai Phong (LiberatedSai Gon) newspaper that the Department of Health had sent doctors of cityhospitals to work turn-by-turn at the hospital to help ensure enough doctors toserve local demand for health examination and treatment.

The hospital also hassigned short-term contracts with retired doctors, Luyen said.

Nha Be District Hospitalhas not employed enough doctors to meet demand, Dr Nguyen Huu Tho, thehospital’s head, said, adding that it needs to hire 10 additional doctors eachyear, but only two or three doctors have been employed.

Moreover, representativesof public hospitals said that many qualified medical graduates who come fromother provinces and want to work at public hospitals in the city are notallowed to.

On August 24, the cityPeople’s Committee issued the decision on abolishing the regulation.

According to Luyen, the newdecision will help his hospital hire enough qualified doctors.

However, managers of publichospitals in provinces are worried because they will face a shortage ofqualified doctors.

They are worried aboutwhether qualified doctors, who are working at their hospitals, will quit jobsand go to work at public hospitals in the city.

Nguyen Thanh Tung, head ofHau Giang province’s Department of Health, said that most medical studentswanted to stay in the city to work after graduating because of higher incomeand better incentives as well as chances for accessing advanced medicaltechniques to improve their skills.

"Only a few of them goback to their native province to work," Tung said.

Dr Nhan To Tai, head of theDistrict 12 Hospital, said that if hospitals in provinces failed to have enoughdoctors, local residents would continue going straight to health facilities inHCM City for health examination and treatment, leading to more overcrowding ofpatients, which the city has tried to solve many times.

According to Nguyen Thi HuynhMai, chief of the city’s Department of Health’s Secretariat, public hospitalsshould develop good working environments and provide better incentives to helpdoctors have chances to improve their skills in order to avoid the doctorsquitting.-VNA