Authorities of Ho Chi Minh City, the only locality nationwide that has yet to raise medical service fees at State-owned health facilities, are considering a proper plan to raise fees next year.

>> HCMC not to hike medical service fees this year >> HCMC to raise medical service fees next month Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy chairman of HCMC People's Committee, has assigned the local Health Department and some other concerned agencies to review the plan under which the city authorities would have raised fees beginning August 1, 2013, in pursuant to Joint Circular 04/2012 of February 29, 2012 by the Ministries of Health and Finance. At a meeting on July 10, the People’s Committee decided to withdraw its proposal to the local People’s Council to increase fees on 1,821 types of medical services at State-owned hospitals from August 1, attempting to avoid putting financial pressure on citizens.  At the time, nearly all of the provinces and cities across the country had increased their medical service fees, based on the list of ceiling medical service fees regulated by the Health Ministry. However, the city decided to postpone a hike until 2014; and now, as 2013 is coming to an end, the city authorities are re-examining the plan to charge such fees, most of which were fixed many years ago and are too low for the current market. However, price hikes must be calculated properly to best suit the city’s social and economic needs and ensure social security is available to all, deputy chairman Thuan said, adding that the People’s Committee will decide on the issue by the end of this year. Medical service fees must be calculated by considering potential impacts they may have on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January 2014, Thuan said. Depending on how the rise may affect the CPI, authorities will decide when the increase will occur and how much it will be. One possible option is to increase fees in 2014 to 60 percent of ceiling rates,  with gradual increases to 85 percent in 2015 and 100 percent in 2016. According to the city Health Department, the city’s hospitals and other health facilities currently serve a total of 15.9 million patients, an increase of 2.1 million compared to the same period last year.