On November 18, at the online workshop "Grassroots Health - from Policy to Action" connected with nearly 1,000 points nationwide, Ms. Dao Lan Huong, representative of the World Bank in Vietnam, said that research shows that in Vietnam, about 30% of hospitalizations can be avoided if good health care is provided at the grassroots level.

There are 10 groups of diseases with the highest hospitalization rates. If well controlled at the grassroots level, hospitalizations due to these diseases will be reduced by about 80%. However, the number of people seeking medical treatment at the grassroots level is currently decreasing due to many unresolved problems. The biggest difficulties are in the organizational model, policy mechanisms, financial mechanisms, etc.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hoa, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Social Security, said that according to the provisions of the revised Law on Health Insurance, at the commune level, there are currently 182 technical categories paid by the Health Insurance Fund, but commune health stations have only implemented about 50% of the categories, and have not been paid by the Health Insurance for about 50% of the technical categories within the scope of implementation.

"Commune and ward health stations that want to be approved for payment must have their implementation list approved and ensure conditions for implementing techniques at the commune level, so they need to improve their professional capacity," Mr. Hoa stated, adding that the biggest challenge for grassroots health is the issue of human resources and people's trust in commune and ward health stations.