HCMC: Incentives for doctors "leaving the city to return to the countryside", many medical centers are still empty

(Dan Tri) - While some young doctors choose to leave the center of Ho Chi Minh City for the suburbs, many medical centers here are still struggling after the job fair ended without recruiting anyone.

On the morning of August 29, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health organized the Ho Chi Minh City Health Sector Job Festival at the Can Gio Medical Center. The event attracted 158 doctors who had completed their internship program at the general hospital associated with the Department's third-course medical station and more than 200 freelance doctors.

Young doctor "leaves the city to return to the countryside"

Early in the morning, young doctor Dai Trang (26 years old) was present at Can Gio Medical Center to look for job opportunities. Trang graduated from Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine and has just completed an 18-month internship at Children's Hospital 1.

Unlike many of her peers who started their careers at central hospitals, she chose to return to her hometown, Vung Tau City (old) to begin her career journey. At this year’s job fair, she proactively applied for a job at Vung Tau Medical Center and was fortunate to be accepted.

Sharing with Dan Tri about her choice, the young doctor said she wanted a stable job, with the opportunity to practice and improve her skills. Once she has solid experience, Trang will continue to learn, expand her knowledge and qualifications.

For Trang, large hospitals are a good choice but not the only one. After the merger, medical centers have also developed a lot: they have beds, inpatient rooms, and many specialties. Doctors working at grassroots hospitals can still learn and grow.

In addition, Trang also emphasized the role of primary health care in community health care. According to her, if people trust and choose to receive treatment at the primary level, it will significantly reduce the burden on upper-level hospitals.

“During my internship at a large hospital, I witnessed 3-4 patients in one bed. The crowded situation put a lot of pressure on both doctors and patients.

If the grassroots level is stronger, many diseases can be completely solved on the spot, making it more convenient for patients and the system also operates more effectively," Trang shared.

With that belief, Dai Trang chose to return to her hometown, starting small steps at the Medical Center. The luggage she brought with her was not only knowledge from the classroom, but also the desire to contribute, learn and contribute to making the grassroots medical system more and more stable.

With the goal of working close to home, Dai Trang applied to Vung Tau Medical Center (Photo: Dieu Linh).

Also choosing the Vung Tau area, 100km from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, as a "launch pad" for his career, another young doctor decided to apply to work at Pham Huu Chi Lung Hospital.

Leaving her hometown of Tra Vinh to study in Ho Chi Minh City at the age of 18 at Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, after nearly 10 years of studying, she chose to go to the Ba Ria - Vung Tau area (old) to find more opportunities to learn and improve herself.

“For me, going to a new place is not just a job, but also a journey to expand my experience, instead of being confined within familiar frameworks.

I want to experience a different working environment, and I also want to contribute my youth to places that are lacking in human resources. While I still have the strength, I want to go and try, so that later when I look back, I can see that the journey I have gone through was worth it,” this doctor shared.

Many incentives for young doctors to return to the grassroots level

For Dr. Bui Xuan Thy, Director of Vung Tau Medical Center, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health organizes a job fair for young doctors as a very important activity, creating conditions for medical units, especially those in the old Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Binh Duong areas, to have the opportunity to approach and recruit young doctors to work and develop their trained capacity.

Sharing more, Dr. Thy also commented that the recruitment of medical centers in the suburbs, far from the center, may face more difficulties in attracting young workers to work compared to hospitals in the city. Therefore, the center has also had some policies to support these groups to retain doctors.

“Regarding salary, we follow the general regulations of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, but in addition, there is an additional support policy, averaging from 500,000 - 800,000 VND/month depending on professional qualifications. In addition, we are also willing to support temporary accommodation for new doctors for a period of 3 to 6 months, so that they have time to find a stable, long-term place to live.

We also create favorable working environment, arrange positions suitable to wishes and needs, and gradually send doctors to study specialties," the doctor said.

The center currently has nearly 300 employees, managing 17 medical stations. This year, the center's target is to recruit 19 doctors. After more than 1 hour at the job fair, the center recruited 2 young doctors. Initially, the new doctors will be assigned to work at the center, then rotated to appropriate departments, rooms or medical stations.

For the first time, Pham Huu Chi Lung Hospital representative participated in the medical career fair of Ho Chi Minh City, BSCK2 Pham Trung Thao, Director of the hospital said that for many years, the hospital has always had difficulties in recruiting human resources. The event will open up opportunities for the hospital to approach, hopefully recruiting young doctors, meeting the development needs of the hospital in the near future.

Two candidates come to apply at Pham Huu Chi Lung Hospital (Photo: Dieu Linh).

Currently, Pham Huu Chi Lung Hospital has a scale of 50 beds. With this scale, the hospital needs 10 doctors, but currently only has 6. Participating in this festival, the hospital has recruited 2/3 of the young doctors who will work in the Examination Department, the Emergency Resuscitation and Line Command Department, and the Tuberculosis - HIV - Drug Resistance Department.

In the near future, the hospital will put into operation a new building with a capacity of 100 beds, thus expanding job opportunities.

Regarding support, doctors from the center of Ho Chi Minh City or distant localities when working at the hospital will certainly be supported with accommodation within the hospital campus.

In addition to the general policies prescribed by the State, the hospital also has its own policies to increase income and create conditions for advanced professional training, especially in the field of respiratory medicine, which is the unit's key specialty.

Many medical centers are still "empty-handed"

At this year’s Health Sector Career Fair, many health centers participated with the hope of attracting more medical staff. However, many units still had to return “empty-handed”.

Present at the booth of Cu Chi Medical Center early, Master, Doctor Nguyen Trong Nghia, Deputy Director of this unit, hoped to recruit 24 general practitioners to work. However, only 3 candidates came to discuss. By the end of the session, the center still had not recruited any doctors.

“Compared to last year, the number of interested candidates has increased but is still low,” the doctor said.

According to Dr. Nghia, in reality, recruiting doctors to the grassroots level is always difficult. Although the Department of Health has many support policies, most young doctors after graduation often want to go to large hospitals to develop their expertise. Partly due to the long distance, difficulty in traveling; partly due to the fear of "less illness, less exposure", fear of "being out of practice".

"At Cu Chi Medical Center, we always create the best conditions for new doctors: support accommodation if they live far away, arrange reasonable working hours, and ensure all benefits according to regulations. In addition, the unit also encourages and creates conditions for doctors to study for a specialty, according to the needs of the unit or according to personal wishes," Dr. Nghia shared.

According to Dr. Nghia, the policy of attracting doctors to the grassroots level of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health is completely correct, contributing to enhancing the role of grassroots health care, reducing the burden on upper-level hospitals. However, to attract more, in addition to the policy, it is necessary to solve practical difficulties in terms of geographical distance, working conditions and young doctors' perceptions of the grassroots level.

Many young doctors lined up to apply at the booths of the Department of Health's final hospitals (Photo: Dieu Linh).

Sharing the same concern, Dr. Le Thi Cam Nhung, Deputy Head of Organization - Administration - Accounting Department, Bau Bang Medical Center, also said that at the event, the center interviewed 3 candidates. All of them were interested in the recruitment position, but were still hesitant about the geographical location so they could not decide.

"Most young doctors live in the center of Ho Chi Minh City. Some are busy with young children, some are studying, so they are afraid to go far," Dr. Nhung shared.

In fact, Bau Bang Medical Center has a scale of 60 beds, currently has 38 general practitioners and 12 specialists 1, the total human resources are still short of more than 10 people compared to the norm. The unit has prepared collective accommodation, creating conditions for doctors to study for a specialist, but the distance of nearly 60km from the center of Ho Chi Minh City is still a big barrier.

Participating in the event for the first time, Dr. Nhung said that Bau Bang Medical Center did not focus on completing the target "because at least this is an opportunity to promote the center.

For Dr. Bao Thi, not being able to recruit doctors at the job fair is not necessarily a bad sign (Photo: Dieu Linh).

Three years of participating in the job fair are three years that Can Gio Medical Center has to return empty-handed. However, according to Dr. Tran Ninh Bao Thi, Deputy Director of the center, this is not necessarily a sad sign.

"In previous years, during the festival, the center did not have any doctors officially registered; most of them just stopped at the information level. However, after the festival, more people learned about us and sent in their applications. Last year, we were able to recruit doctors thanks to this form," the doctor shared.

This year, the booth of Can Gio Medical Center attracted more attention from young doctors. If working here, doctors will enjoy full benefits according to the regulations of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health. In addition, the hospital will also arrange dormitories for those who wish to stay and work here.

From Can Gio to Bau Bang, from the need for 2 doctors to the need for 20 doctors, the common story is still the desire for medical human resources at the grassroots level. The job fair is not only a place to submit applications, but also an opportunity for centers to promote, connect and sow hope, even though they know that the path to attracting doctors to the grassroots level will still be arduous.

Also at today's Festival, 55 medical units successfully recruited 200 doctors. Notably, 74 doctors chose to work long-term at the grassroots medical level, an increase of 26 doctors compared to 2024.

This rate increased from 21% in 2024 to 37% this year, showing that there has been a change in awareness of the workplace, the commitment of doctors after practicing at health stations and grassroots health care has created an increasingly greater attraction for young doctors.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/tphcm-uu-dai-cho-bac-si-bo-pho-ve-que-nhieu-trung-tam-y-te-van-e-20250829152827076.htm