Hanoi (VNA) - More than 50 public hospitals in Hanoi and HCM City havebegun increasing hospital fees for patients who do not hold health insurancecards from this month.

In Circular No 2/2017/TT-BYT, the Ministry of Health has regulated the maximumprice of medical examination and treatment services which are not covered by thehealth insurance fund.

Specifically, nearly 1,900 different services and products at public hospitalswill have new rates, which are 20-25 percent more expensive. Patients who haveno health insurance cards or use medical treatment services not in the pay listof the health insurance fund will therefore have to pay more.

The maximum price of medical treatment service includes the price of medicalexamination, day-bed service, technical and testing services.

The medical examination cost at hospitals and health clinics will rangebetween 39,000 VND (1.7 USD) and 29,000 VND (1.2 USD) per person. Sometechnical surgeries will increase by 20-30 percent.

A representative of the Ministry of Health said the new hospital fees would beintroduced to localities as Vietnam tried to reduce subsidies from the Statebudget.

The increase in hospital fees would encourage more people to join the healthinsurance fund.

As scheduled, 30 other cities and provinces will apply the hospital fees hikein August, 15 localities will implement it in October and 18 localities inDecember.

The new hospital rates will be announced by the People’s Council in eachlocality.-VNA