Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Health (HCMC DoH) has finalized an ambitious proposal to restructure, merge, and dissolve numerous public health facilities as part of a massive overhaul following the city's administrative merger with neighboring provinces. The plan, which aims for greater efficiency and improved service quality, involves consolidating certain hospitals and medical centers while simultaneously strengthening and upgrading grassroots health stations to reduce patient overload at top-tier hospitals.
The Rationale for Restructuring
The necessity for this large-scale reorganization stems from two key factors: the recent administrative merger and the chronic issue of hospital overload.
- Post-Merger Expansion: Following the merger with parts of Bình Dương and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu provinces, HCMC's population grew significantly, increasing the number of hospitals but simultaneously decreasing the ratio of hospital beds per 10,000 people. This created an immediate need to optimize the existing infrastructure.
- Tackling Overload: The restructuring is a strategic effort to shift basic healthcare away from central and specialized hospitals, which are perennially overwhelmed, to the grassroots level, thereby improving accessibility and patient experience city-wide.
Key Proposals for Mergers and Dissolutions
The HCMC DoH's plan is divided into multiple phases, targeting both specialized and general health units for optimization.
Saigon General Hospital (SGH): A major highlight is the proposal to merge Saigon General Hospital into Gia Định People's Hospital (Bệnh viện Nhân dân Gia Định), with the expected effective date being January 1, 2026.
Regional Center Conversion: The plan involves converting the operational model of district-level health centers. For instance, 38 district, county, and city health centers will be reorganized into 38 regional health centers, which will include both centers with and without inpatient beds.
Discontinuation of Inpatient Services: Four existing inpatient health centers in areas like District 3, District 5, District 10, and Cần Giờ are proposed to relinquish their inpatient functions and be converted into regional centers without beds, with their functions transferred to larger, less-overloaded hospitals.
The ultimate goal of this reorganization is to reduce the number of public health service units affiliated with the Department of Health to approximately 91 units, a decrease of 27 units from the original post-merger number.
Strengthening Grassroots Healthcare
Crucially, the streamlining of central and district units is paired with a strong focus on empowering local health stations.
New Local Health Stations: The plan proposes the establishment of 168 new ward and commune-level health stations that will operate under the direct supervision of the local People's Committees.
Enhanced Capacity: These local stations will be upgraded, granted legal status, official seals, and dedicated accounts. This move aims to bolster the capabilities of grassroots facilities to provide comprehensive primary healthcare, preventive services, and initial medical examinations.
Financial Autonomy: The broader strategy is to promote financial autonomy for hospitals, enabling them to manage their own resources and generate revenue through services and insurance reimbursements, leading to a more sustainable and high-quality healthcare ecosystem.
This comprehensive restructuring is designed to prepare HCMC for its long-term ambition of becoming a leading medical tourism and healthcare hub in Southeast Asia by optimizing resources and ensuring quality care is accessible at every level of the system.