Healthcare sector fails to live up to expectations

According to the 2015 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) Report released on April 12, user satisfaction with the quality of district hospitals has fallen to the lowest level in five years.

“Feedback from the public shows that these hospitals continue to face problems with patients sharing beds, waiting times between entering hospital and getting treatment, dirty treatment rooms, ineffective treatment resulting in diseases or injuries not being cured and doctors advising the purchase of medicine at private pharmacies,” the PAPI 2015 reported.

However, health insurance cards could be more helpful as 61 percent of respondents nationwide feel more positive about the quality of health insurance they received.

The report recommends that poorer provinces such as those in the northwest and Central Highlands regions need to invest more in basic public services and infrastructure so that more equitable opportunities are created.

The Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) is a policy monitoring tool that assesses citizen experiences and satisfaction with government performance at national and sub-national levels in governance, public administration and public service delivery.

PAPI measures six dimensions: participation at local levels, transparency, vertical accountability, control of corruption, public administrative procedures and public service delivery. The survey has been implemented nationwide each year since 2011. For the 2015 PAPI Report, 13,955 randomly selected citizens were surveyed.

PAPI is a collaboration between the Centre for Community Support and Development Studies, the Centre for Research and Training of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the United Nations Development Programme. The full 2015 PAPI Report and more in-depth analysis can be found at: www.papi.vn.