Health authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have raised the prices of nearly 2,000 medical services offered at state-owned facilities since the beginning of this month.

The prices of 477 of 1,996 medical services at public health facilities in the city have been hiked since June 1 to be equal to 85 percent of the respective ceiling rates in place now, the Department of Health said on Monday. Meanwhile, the prices of the remaining 1,519 services have been raised to be equivalent to 75 percent of the respective caps, also since June 1. The price hike was made as the second step of the three-step road map for raising medical service prices, based on the ceiling rates set by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance in their joint circular dated February 29, 2012. The new prices are applied to 378 state-owned health facilities, including 52 hospitals, for this second step (June 1, 2015 - June 1, 2016), the department said. In the first step of the road map (June 1, 2014 - June 1, 2015), the prices of the 477 services were equal to 75 percent of the caps, and those of the 1,519 other services were equivalent to 65 percent of the top rates.   From June 1, 2016 onward (the third step), all the 1,996 services will see their prices reach the ceilings. So far, 62 out of 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam have increased their medical service charges to the caps, except for Ho Chi Minh City. In order to spare residents a financial burden, the city authorities have set up a three-year roadmap for the price hike, and the decision to raise medical charges on June 1, 2015 is the second step of the road map. The health department has requested that all health facilities publicize their new charges and use 15 percent of the revenue from medical examinations and treatment for repairs to and the upgrade of patient rooms. In order to better serve patients, all hospitals are required to increase the number of examination tables, open more medicine delivery counters, and improve their process of collecting hospital fees, the healthdepartment said.

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