The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has submitted to the local People’s Council a plan to increase medical service fees at state-owned hospitals as of August 1, with the fee on sickbeds to rise 5.3 times on average. 

>> Hanoi proposes fee hike for 819 health services >> HCMC’s new health fees to be 80% of ceiling rates>> New hospital health fees unreasonable: insurance agency The plan has been made based on Joint Circular 04/2012 by the Ministries of Finance and Health, which sets out a new fee schedule for health services nationwide. According to the Committee, of the total medical examination and treatment cost, expenses on medicine accounts for 60 percent, while medical technical services represent the rest. Therefore, the Committee decided to increase fees on medical technical services only, while applying the hospitals’ purchase prices of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to patients. Specifically, as of August 1, the city will increase the fees on medical technical services to 75 percent of the ceiling rates stipulated in the above Circular. In July 2014, the fees will be equal to 85 percent of the ceilings, and in 2016 they will be 100 percent of the maximum rates. Under the plan, the fees on 1,821 types of medical services will be increased as of August 1, 2013, if they are approved by the People's Council. Among the new fees, the fee on examination and check-up will increase by 2.5 times, the rate on sickbeds will rise by more than 5.3 times, and the fee on technical services and tests will go up by 2.3 times, etc.

These higher fees are aimed at increasing financial sources for use in improving the infrastructure of hospitals, purchasing more advanced medical equipment, and strengthening training so as to enhance the quality of medical examination and treatment.     In late June, the Hanoi People’s Committee asked its local People’s Council to approve higher fees for 819 health services at all state-owned hospitals in the capital from August 1. Hanoi authorities proposed that the capital’s new health fees be 70 percent of the ministry’s ceilings from August 2013, and 100 percent from 2016.