Several hospitals in Vietnam have not been built despite years of planning, while many others have been abandoned after being partially constructed.

Even with a patient overload crisis at local hospitals throughout the country, many of the planned healthcare facility projects remain on pause amid legal and financial troubles.

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have established five essential projects in an effort to alleviate overcrowding at infirmaries in the city, two of which, however, still have yet to break ground due to various legal hurdles.

The plan to establish a new hospital for traumatology and orthopedics in Binh Chanh District was originally scheduled for completion in 2012, but the final agreements for compensation and site clearance were not approved by the local People’s Committee until May 2014.

The delay took place after citizens living in the facility’s planned zone refused the original resettlement offer, stating that the proposed amount was insufficient for them to afford new housing in the resettlement area; holding up construction on the project for five years after the plan was formulated in 2011.

In a similar case, a new oncology hospital in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, was expected to reach completion in 2013 before being interrupted by the inability to compensate people affected by the project’s zoning.

Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Thu recently ordered the Department of Health to turn the first sod on the construction within March this year, underscoring that it is one of the city’s most vital healthcare projects.

The planned site for the new hospital for traumatology and orthopedics in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Meanwhile, in the northern province of Nam Dinh, construction of a 700-bed hospital, which was kick-started in 2007 with total capital of nearly VND200 billion (US$8.96 million), was abandoned in 2012 after the National Assembly decided to stop investing in the project.

Those in charge of the project cite the Ministry of Health’s construction of new facilities for Bach Mai Hospital, based in Hanoi, and Vietnam-German Hospital in neighboring Ha Nam Province as a reason for the building cessation, explaining that the infirmary in Nam Dinh is expected to remain deserted even if completed.

In the Vietnamese capital, construction of the Hanoi American International Hospital in Cau Giay District has not been concluded after nearly a decade.

According to local citizens, every five to seven days a group of workers come to the heavily secured construction site to build something before subsequently dismantling it.

The infirmary began being put up in 2007 with total investment of $50 million and remains unfinished at present.

The project’s schedule was postponed due to several problems related to tax and cooperation with other business partners in the installment of air conditioning and power supply systems, Nguyen Thi Giang Huong, deputy general director of the hospital, explained.

By 2012, the Hanoi American International Hospital owed $65,000 in land taxes and delay penalties, the local taxman reported.

The  construction zone for the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in District 9 is still an empty piece of land compared to the artist’s impression of the infirmary upon completion. Photo: Tuoi Tre

At the construction site of a general hospital in Mo Cay Bac District in the southern province of Ben Tre, only the security office, fences, and gates have been put up since 2011.

The project received VND263 billion ($11.79 million) worth of capital, Nguyen Duy Linh, deputy director of the provincial Department of Health, said, adding that it was delayed due to the lack of investment brought about by the government’s decision to reduce the budget for public constructions.

Local authorities have submitted a proposal to narrow down the capacity and trim its capital to VND150 billion ($6.7 million), which would be carried out in 2017 if approved by the government, Linh added.

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