90% of Vietnam Migrant Workers Lack Healthcare Services

Up to 90% of migrant workers across Vietnam are not covered by social insurance, especially healthcare services, heard a recent seminar on immigrant health in Hanoi. Newly-elected Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien estimated that 30% of urban residents come from the countryside. This contributes to the rising transmitted diseases like dengue fever, diarrhea and malaria. However, the laborer demographic is poor and consequently of low priority for the health and insurance sectors, Tien attributed. Employers did not care much about the health and living conditions of their laborers, especially new residents who lacked support to improve their strength and awareness and minimize risks, health experts said. Statistics by the ministry showed that only 30% of private companies paid health insurance fees for their employees while they often work 14-15 hours per day, seven days a week and lived in unhygienic environment due to their low incomes. In Hanoi, only 11% of new migrant laborers have work contracts compared with 90% of local people. Deputy Director of the ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department Tran Thanh Duong said the new residents only get paid 30% of health checkups and treatment fees and do not have access to the National Tuberculosis Prevention Program. Duong added there is not enough research on their health condition in view of rising movements to big cities. Tien added that the ministry will join hands with the International Organization for Migration to research the health of migrant residents in order to propose policies to minimize problems with their healthcare access in the coming times. (Vietnam News Aug 16, baohiemxahoi.gov.vn)