Efforts to improve healthcare for ethnic minority communities

BHG - In recent years, Ha Giang Province has focused significant resources on enhancing healthcare quality for ethnic minority communities, particularly in border areas. Various healthcare support policies have been widely implemented, enabling residents to access basic healthcare services, improve their quality of life, and achieve sustainable development.

The medical equipment system at local healthcare facilities is gradually being upgraded to ensure effective medical examination and treatment for the people.

Healthcare infrastructure has been systematically invested in from the provincial to the district level, including 11 district and city medical centres (with over 2,200 beds), 18 regional general clinics (287 beds), and 175 commune health stations (515 beds), meeting the medical examination and treatment needs of the people.

Free medical programmes and universal health insurance have also ensured timely medical treatment for vulnerable groups, such as low-income households, near-poor families, children, and the elderly.

Recently, the Department of Health organised a free medical examination and treatment programme in three border communes and towns of Dong Van District, including Pho Cao, Pho La, and Pho Bang. Around 1,000 residents, primarily from low-income households, children under six years old, and elderly individuals, received check-ups and consultations on common health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory issues, diabetes, hypertension, and malnutrition.

Ly Thị May, a resident of Pho La A Hamlet, expressed her joy at receiving medical care and guidance on seasonal disease prevention, which has improved her awareness of personal healthcare.

According to Nguyen Van Giao, Director of the Department of Health, efforts are being made to mobilise both human and material resources to strengthen healthcare services in ethnic minority areas. In particular, doctors from higher-level hospitals have been deployed to lower-level facilities to transfer medical expertise and improve the quality of grassroots healthcare.

Currently, all 34 border communes have resident doctors, ensuring that each resident receives at least one health check-up per year. Within 2025, the healthcare sector aims to achieve: 10.5 doctors per 10,000 people, 45.7 hospital beds per 10,000 people, 97.25% health insurance coverage, over 90% full immunisation coverage, and a reduction in child malnutrition rates to 16%.

Alongside improving grassroots healthcare, the provincial health sector is expanding free medical examination and treatment programmes, striving to implement them across all seven border districts, contributing to the protection of health within ethnic minority communities and ensuring fairness in healthcare services.