Layoffs, Medical Shortages, and Debt Collectors

Concerning trends converge

Good afternoon! Welcome to the latest subscriber-only edition of the Vietnam Weekly. Yes, I published one of these just last week, but an awful lot is going on right now and I’m worried waiting another week will leave me too far behind to catch up. I also don’t want to overload the free Friday editions, which are meant to be concise. If you haven’t signed up to receive exclusive articles, you can do so below for US$5/month or US$50/year below.

Today I’m covering three ongoing developments that, while not directly connected, combine to highlight the scale of the challenges Vietnam faces this year. I’m not actively trying to be negative in coverage here at the Vietnam Weekly, but I do want to highlight topics that may not get as much attention as they warrant.

On to the news.

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The Public Hospitals

On February 24, the leaders of Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi announced that from March 1, they would have to prioritize emergency surgeries and only conduct medical tests when absolutely necessary due to a shortage of supplies and chemicals.

Viet Duc is the largest public surgical center in northern Vietnam: doctors there performed over 79,000 operations in 2022, and the hospital receives about 4,000 patients each day (half outpatient, half inpatient). Suffice it to say, this was an alarming announcement.