The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has completed a draft decree on hiking hospital fees to provide better healthcare treatment for patients, said Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu. Some of types of medical treatments at central and district-level hospitals will be subject to the move, the Vietnam News Agency said Jan. 8, citing the minister. The cost of services based on modern medical equipment and technology would be increased as well, Trieu added. The draft decree would be sent to ministries, agencies and hospitals for feedback before being submitted to the government. Vietnam spent an estimated $1.71 billion on medicines and medical materials in 2009, up 20% compared from a year earlier, said the ministry’s Drug Administration.
