Hanoi (VNA) – President Truong Tan San😼g asked the health sector to continue revamping its operation mechanism and changing health workers’ behaviour toward patients.

Speaking at a ceremony in Hanoi on February 27 to mark Vietnamese Doctors’ Day, the State leader called for reforms in personnel and communication work in the sector. The sector should upgrade infrastructure and equipment while increasing scientific and technological research and application, he said. President Truong Tan Sang also hailed the sector’s achievements in caring for public health over the past 61 years, as well as its contributions to national defence and construction. Vietnam has met almost the UN Millennium Development Goals in health, he said, stressing that medical work plays an important role in the context of globalisation, climate change, environment and disease outbreaks. At the ceremony, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien reported that the health care network has been consolidated and expanded, meeting people’s demands. Thanks to efforts from the entire medical system, major diseases have been detected, controlled or prevented from entering Vietnam. Hundreds of hospitals have been built or upgraded, she said. Vietnam has produced 10 out of 11 vaccines used in the national immunisation programme, Tien said, noting that people’s average life expectancy has increased. However, the official admitted that, the sector has failed to meet people’s increasing demands for health care. On the occasion, individuals and units that have made contributions to public health care were honoured. February 27 was designated as Vietnamese Doctors’ Day, as it was the day President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to health staff across the country.-VNA