Cuba Supports Ho Chi Minh City in Family Doctor Model

Professor and doctor José Armando Aronte Villamarín, a Cuban medical expert, introduced the Cuban family doctor model. Photo: VNA

During a business trip to Vietnam, Professor and Doctor José Armando Aronte Villamarín, a Cuban family medicine expert, consulted grassroots medical models in Ho Chi Minh City such as hospitals in District 8, Binh Chanh district, Cu Chi district, visit Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, Military Hospital 175.

He commented that the development of grassroots healthcare in Ho Chi Minh City still faces many difficulties when the medical workforce is concentrated in large numbers in hospitals.

This is different from Cuba where more than 50% of doctors and nurses are allocated to basic health care. Doctors at the grassroots health facility are properly and formally trained according to the comprehensive doctor model.

Currently, each locality in Cuba has a polyclinic consisting of epidemiologists, specialists, and nurses.

This polyclinic can be considered equivalent to a district-level medical center in Vietnam. Under each polyclinic, there will be about 20-30 family doctor offices, which correspond to medical stations. Each family doctor office is assigned to manage the health of about 1,000 people.

Professor and doctor José Armando Aronte Villamarín, a Cuban medical expert, introduced the Cuban family doctor model. Photo: VNA

Professor and doctor José Armando Aronte Villamarín said that the city's biggest current challenge is the lack of basic medical human resources compared to the requirements and goals of family medicine.

Another difficulty is that it will be hard to convince and entice private clinics to participate in family medicine networks.

People also need to be properly aware that family doctors cannot treat all diseases. Instead, there will be consultants to prevent diseases, take care of common diseases and immediately connect with hospital specialists when necessary.

Villamarín affirmed that Cuba will accompany Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam to build this model through sharing experiences, find solutions to attract doctors to join the family doctor team, improve the quality of medical examination and treatment of the grassroots medical system.

Tang Chi Thuong, director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, said that the city's health sector has predicted difficulties and challenges when building a roadmap to transform the operation of medical stations according to the family doctor model.

He looks forward to receiving advice and support from Cuba's leading medical experts in technology transfer in the near future.

The Department of Health wants Cuba to support short-term training and advice in building a roadmap and implementing the Cuban family doctor model.

However, to achieve the best results, Tang Chi Thuong believes that there needs to be creativity and adjustments to suit the actual situation of the city's health system.

In 2024, the Department of Health will advise the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to supplement the Project "Pilot implementation of the Cuban family doctor model" in some districts of the city.

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