The Public Health Worker Exodus
While dengue explodes in the south
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Today’s piece covers several ongoing developments that are converging to create a nightmare for Vietnam’s public health sector - with Ho Chi Minh City facing a particularly challenging situation.
Healthcare Workers Head for the Exits
Since the start of 2021, almost 10,000 public healthcare workers in Vietnam have quit their job.
Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, An Giang, and Da Nang have seen the highest rates of health workers leaving the field - perhaps unsurprisingly, these are all areas that Covid-19 outbreaks severely impacted at some point over the last 18 months.
HCMC saw more public health workers quit in Q1 - around 400 - than in an entire pre-pandemic year, and that follows 1,154 of the city’s workers quitting last year.
Hanoi has lost roughly 900 health workers over the last 18 months.
Worryingly, this trend appears to be accelerating, with the Ministry of Health sharing that 5,200 medical workers quit in 2021, a figure that has already reached over 4,000 just halfway through 2022.