JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

Athletes in Vietnam ineligible for health insurance

Athletes in Vietnam ineligible for health insurance

Thursday, October 08, 2015, 11:44 GMT+7

Athletes who get injured while training and competing for Vietnamese national teams often spend their own money on treatment because they do not have health insurance.

Despite it violating the current regulations and laws in Vietnam, the situation has been common at many state-owned sports centers and clubs in the Southeast Asian nation.

While having no insurance, many athletes have fallen into financial difficulties and exhausted their health due to the severity of their sickness.

The two most recent cases are Le Thi Thu of the women’s football club Than – Khoang San Vietnam (Coal and Minerals of Vietnam) and Nguyen Huyen Trang of the Hanoi sepatakraw club and the Vietnamese national sepatakraw team.

All players of the provincial women’s football team Ha Nam were granted no health insurance, said former player Van Thi Thanh.

The situation remains similar at most other sports clubs and centers in the nation.

Athletes spend own money on treatment

While competing at the national league of women’s football this year, Le Thi Thu, a member of the Coal and Minerals of Vietnam team and the Vietnamese national squad, discovered that she had been suffering bleeding and low platelet count.

It is a rare and dangerous symptom and despite treatment costing her around VND200 million (US$8,900) at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, her health condition has continued to deteriorate.

To afford the treatment she had to sell her house and all of her furniture because she was not given health insurance.

Another athlete, Nguyen Huyen Trang suffered a similar situation even though she is a former world champion of sepatakraw from 2000 to 2007.

Trang said she found out that she had no health insurance in 2004, when she was hospitalized for surgery on an appendix.

She added that she has never been given health insurance during the entire period of competing for her Hanoi club nor the national team.

An athlete of a provincial sports team in the north told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on condition of anonymity that athletes are often given ‘verbal insurance’ from their clubs’ officials.

“We athletes are not allowed to express ourselves or claim anything because they say we are still undergoing training,” said the anonymous athlete.

“We are told to keep confidence in the leaders of our clubs.”

Health insurance grant needs lawmakers’ approval

Currently, all players of the women’s football club Phong Phu Ha Nam do not have health insurance because they are not officials and are not granted the status of regular members of the sports sector.

In an interview with Tuoi Tre, Do Huy Bac, director of the Ha Nam sports center, admitted that a third of athletes in the northern province of Ha Nam have not been granted health insurance.

“We have proposed this several times but been rejected by higher authorities,” Bac said.

“Youth trainees at school age have health insurance for students.

“Athletes who are not given the status of regular membership of the club don’t have health insurance.

“To grant them insurance, I must have the approval of the People’s Committee and this body must have the nod from the People’s Council [the law-making body].”

The director added his agency has to earmark a sum for treatment of players because they have no status to receive it.

In many cases, the center paid half of the sum for injury treatment and the remaining was covered by athletes, he said.

According to the Law on Sports and Physical Training, athletes competing for national teams are given health care, health insurance, and social insurance.

Vuong Bich Thang, head of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that granting health insurance to athletes is the responsibility of their sports clubs or centers.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Tuoi Tre News

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Latest news