Health care in Vietnam

Yesterday I went to a talk on the Vietnamese health system. I learned a lot of things that blew my mind and I felt like I needed to share some of them. Vietnam is actually not too bad off when you look at the statistics. They took a blow because of the global economic crisis, but they were on track to becoming a middle-income country this year. They have a relatively low infant mortality rate, a high literacy rate, and a high life expectancy. However, when you look at these numbers, you are seeing the averages for the country, which don't reflect the huge disparities between the urban and rural populations. The infant mortality rate in the rural population is considerably worse and only about 50 percent of the rural population has access to safe water.  Disparities between rich and poor, ethnic groups, even genders exist in countries around the world. This isn't a new concept. But in Vietnam, many people, particularly donors, feel the country is doing so well comparatively that they can let the country handle themselves. It made me realize how easy it is to marginalize groups of people and how important it is to focus on equity in our work, not just the average at the end of the day.

Probably the most amazing information I heard during the talk was on health care. Of course we all know that health care is a huge hot topic in the United States right now. I'm not sure how to fix health care in the US, but I know something needs to be done. In Vietnam, many people have health care, but it is essentially worthless. A man told a story of his little boy who needed a tonsillectomy. The father had health insurance that covered his son, but he was still required to pay the hospital, surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nurses in order to get "good" service. If not, his son may not get enough anesthesia or he may not be stitched up properly, which could result in infection. In Vietnam, money talks. If you have it, you can get what you need, but if you don't, you're left to gamble with you life or your loved one's life. It absolutely baffles me that this is a common and accepted practice here. After listening to an explanation of the health care system in Vietnam, I guess the US system, even with all of the problems, doesn't sound too bad. At least in the US you can't be denied service in an emergency, whether you have insurance or not. Even after paying for the surgery for his son, the father still had to carry his son from the operating room to a recovery room because his payment didn't include a gurney.