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In a draft of an inter-ministerial circular, the Ministries of Health, Finance, and Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs expect to raise the prices of nearly 400 of the current 3,000 plus medical technical services at hospitals.

Most of these 400 services will see prices increase by 2-10 times, but for some other services, prices will be raised by up to 20 times, according to the circular.

For example, among common services, the fee for a general clinical examination or specialist examination will increase from the current VND3,000 to VND20,000 ($0.96); the charge for stitch removal will be raised from VND3,000-10,000 to VND30,000-45,000, the cost for intraocular pressure measurement will increase from VND2,000-4,000 to VND18,000-44,000, and the expense for vaginal birth delivery will soar from VND50,000-150,000 to VND480,000-525,000.

In addition, the charges for regular health check-ups; health check-ups for people to be sent abroad for work; consultations; and dialysis are proposed to be VND50,000-100,000, VND200,000-300,000, VND300,000-500,000, and VND1.3 million ($62.3) respectively.

According to the circular, the proposed charge rates are lower than those proposed by the Health Ministry last September.

This year will also see a number of new services to be added to the current health service list and require payment from the Health Insurance Fund, including 64/128 slice CT Scanner, CT Scanner of 256 slices or higher, bone marrow biopsy, endoscopy for esophagus foreign body removal with anaesthetization, and abscess surgery with anaesthetization, among others, the circular said.

Nguyen Nam Lien, deputy head of the Financial Planning Department under the Health Ministry said the prices of 350 out of the current 3,000 health services have not increased since 1995. In addition, the prices of about 2,650 other services have been maintained since January 2006.

All these prices are no longer appropriate and need to be increased, he said.

Over the last eight years, the Ministry of Health has repeatedly called on the government to hike hospital fees, but their request has always been turned down on the grounds of poor-quality services, low-grade infrastructure, inadequate consultation and in-patient care.

Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said the proposal this time was backed by the Vietnam Social Insurance – the agency responsible for covering the treatment expenses for around 60 per cent of patients.