Hanoi (VNA) – The health sector has made great strides in protecting public health, contributing to the country’s socio-ec𝓰onomic development, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the Health Ministry’s teleconference on January 15.

For 2016-2020 tasks, PM Dung asked the sector to improve preventive and primary health care to ensure everyone has access to quality medical services, as well as taking initiative in preventing diseases from entering Vietnam and intensifying supervisions in order to early detect any arising diseases. It is necessary to ensure food safety and increase the quality of communal medical clinics, he said, adding that provinces also need to develop the family doctor model to meet locals’ primary health care demands. The Government leader also urged hospitals to boost coordination and develop satellite hospital networks to reduce overloads. He emphasised the need to equip medical staff with professional skills and capacity and good ethics, as this is the leading requirement to raise the quality of health check-ups and treatment. The ministry was also requested to pay more attention to family planning and health insurance, and review the law system to have adjustments and supplements if necessary. Speaking at the event, Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien stated that the ministry will focus on increasing the efficiency of the grassroots medical network and preventive health care. The sector will synchronously carry out measures to ease hospital overloads, increase the quality of medical services, and closely manage drug prices and quality, while trying to decrease the number of fatalities caused by diseases and lengthen life expectancies. Supervision will be strengthened at international border gates to prevent diseases from entering Vietnam, she said. She continued by saying that the sector will continue to promote vaccination so as to keep the vaccination rate above 90 percent. It will speed up the implementation of projects to increase the number of medical clinics and expanding the network of satellite hospitals to all provinces and cities. Last year, the health sector contained diseases at home and prevented newly emerging diseases like Ebola, avian flu H7N9 and Mers-CoV from entering the country, although they occurred in several nations in the region. The sector effectively carried out projects within national targets programmes, maintained a vaccination rate above 90 percent, and had 98.2 percent of children from 1 to 14 vaccinated for measles-rubella. In June, the World Health Organisation (WHO) granted the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) certificate to Vietnam, recognising that vaccines made in Vietnam meet international standards.-VNA