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Family members and patients perform medical examinations and treatment procedures at K Hospital, Tan Trieu Campus, Thanh Tri, Hanoi – Photo: NAM TRAN
According to information from Tuoi Tre, the situation of rising price of medical equipment appeared in many hospitals, which caused the price of medical equipment to rise very high compared to reality, the patient was ‘stolen’ while the benefit above the paperwork received by the hospital was scarce.
The case of the installation of medical equipment at Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi) has “uncovered” negative effects on joint venture activities, socialization and investment in medical equipment in many hospitals.
Not just the Bach Mai Hospital
On September 28, according to Tuoi Tre’s source, from 2007 to now, Bach Mai Hospital implemented 35 socialization projects, provided capital for joint ventures with companies and staff to install medical equipment. medical examination and treatment in some departments.
Currently, the hospital has liquidated 10 projects and the remaining 25 projects are in execution. In which 23 projects with 10 partners are external companies, 2 projects are capital contributed by staff members in departments and centers of the hospital.
As of December 31, 2019, total medical examination and treatment revenue from 25 projects exceeded 2.5 billion VND. After deducting investment costs, the partners are companies that enjoy nearly VND 1 billion and the hospitals have earned more than VND 725 billion. In which, the departments and centers of the hospital are entitled to 209 billion VND, the remaining 516 billion VND is imported into the investment funds for development and salary and the additional income fund of the hospital is managed in the Hanoi State Treasury. …
The results of the initial investigation also determined that in the period 2009-2019, the director of the hospital, Nguyen Quoc Anh, directly led the implementation of joint venture projects for investment in medical equipment. In the process of implementation, there are many indications of violation in the management, for personal reasons, some former hospital leaders have seriously violated the law, causing great damage to money and property. patient money and health insurance.
In particular, two robots, Mako and Rosa, were pushed 2 to 4 times higher than the purchase price, causing patients to spend many times the cost of depreciating equipment per surgery (from more than 4 million to more 23 million dong).
Equipment price increases are not exclusive to Bach Mai Hospital. According to the Tuoi Tre document, K Hospital recently invested with the state budget a Da Vinci Xi robot that is used to operate surgeries for cancer patients. It is said to be a modern surgical robot.
The customs declaration made on October 3, 2019 for the Da Vinci Xi endoscopy robot system and attached accessories with a price on the invoice is 2.2 million dollars, the price for tax calculation is more of 50.9 billion VND. , plus the value added tax (5%), the total value of this equipment is approximately 53.5 billion. However, based on the decision to win the tender, the price of this device when sold to the hospital exceeded 88 billion VND.
Responding to Tuoi Tre on September 28, Hospital K said that the hospital purchased equipment through open tender, the equipment customs declaration price of more than VND 50 billion did not include the components in the contract, such as training fee, technology transfer from manufacturer to hospital to operate the equipment well, and warranty cost.
Before that, a central hospital in Hanoi also bought endoscopic surgery robots for children up to … 95 billion dong.
Bach Mai Hanoi Hospital – Photo: NAM TRAN
Patients and hospitals all suffer
The investigating agency has clarified that the revenue from the machine systems in the joint venture project located at Bach Mai Hospital has been deducted from 2 to 7% to the departments. In 25 projects that this hospital has implemented, the income transferred to the departments is VND 209 billion. In particular, the diagnostic imaging department received more than 134 billion.
This amount has been spent by departments and department leaders, and hospital leaders, including some people who are department leaders, have been divided into more than 5 billion. The fact that departments are entitled to such a large sum of money, according to the investigating agency, is a sign of illegal fundraising and self-interest.
Bach Mai Hospital is the largest hospital in the country, with a huge revenue of tens of billions of VND / year. But the investment back in the facilities is not much, most of the medical equipment (MRI scanner, surgical robot …) of the hospital is a source of socialization. This shows that profits from medical services do not flow into the hospital budget but into the pockets of some people.
The survey documents also show that there is an increase or abuse of indications for the use of socialized medical equipment in medical examination and treatment services, increasing the cost burden for patients.
A socialization project at Hospital K shows that after deducting the costs for the 64- and 128-row CT scan (not including contrast medicine), it costs 3.5 million VND / case, just for the hospital and the company. the profit was more than 170,000 VND, divided by 50/50, each part received only more than 85,000 VND / box.
This number is very unusual, when investors who spend billions of money accept only 85,000 dong of profit per case. The hospital also has stores, brands, patients and doctors, but only earns 85,000 VND / case.
But not only this device, but also a number of other devices invested in socialization in this hospital, it also has a woefully low performance in the hospital: 128-slice CT system, 10-year income is more. 211 billion VND, but the hospital only earns more than 6 billion VND, which means that every year the hospital makes a profit of just over 600 million VND, while the patient has to spend more than 20 thousand million VND.
The 10-year revenue 1.5 Tesla MRI system is nearly 375 billion, the hospital alone earns 21 billion, or 2.1 billion per year, while patient revenue is over 37.5 billion.
In response to Tuoi Tre, the K Hospital representative said that the reason the hospital’s earnings from socialization projects are too low is that the hospital has set the fee on a cost recovery basis and is not cumulative. . more than 10% to ensure low rates for patients.
The hospital also said that it annually reviews, negotiates and adjusts joint venture contracts, hospital fees to “harmonize the interests of investors, hospitals and patients.”
The patient and the patient’s relatives perform a medical examination and treatment at K Hospital, Tan Trieu Campus, Thanh Tri, Hanoi – Photo: NAM TRAN
Beware of the “socialization” contract
According to the head of a Hanoi hospital, in 2018 this hospital was preparing to participate in a project to socialize CT scanners, the price of the most modern equipment of this type was 3.4 billion VND at that time, but the project The joint venture has raised the price to 6 billion VND, not to mention the “facility” in the contract that the hospital will pay for the annual lamp replacement (200 million VND / year).
If you include the total number of replacement equipment and the price of the device, the price of the equipment in the eight years of the partnership is up to VND 7.6 billion, 2 times higher than the original price. At that time, the aforementioned leader fiercely rejected this project, although some colleagues had approved it. “If he is not alert, he will easily get carried away by the terms of the contract,” said the leader.
LAN ANH
Many hospitals make mistakes
Speaking with Tuoi Tre, a senior inspector of the Government Inspector said that the joint venture in hospitals complies with the provisions of Circular 15 of 2007 of the Ministry of Health. Circular 15 has created a legal corridor to mobilize a large amount of social capital to address the urgent need for medical examination and treatment for people while the state budget is still limited.
“However, in the process of implementation, many medical examination and treatment establishments and associated companies have wrongly implemented the provisions of Circular 15 and related legal regulations,” he analyzed.
Recently, inspection and investigation have cleared up some common infractions, such as illegal pricing in the direction of driving up equipment prices; increase operating costs, training, maintenance … The signing of a partnership contract in the form of a capital contribution company with medical equipment or the company that lends equipment to the hospital for use with the commitment to purchase chemicals Exclusive materials from partners and without regulation of the consumption of chemical products …
“Reality shows that some hospitals are increasing the use of socialization machines to quickly recover capital and increase the income of capital contributors. This, combined with the increase in the value of the capital contributions, will increase more and more. On the other hand, when the team has recovered enough capital compared to the signed contract, the hospital continues to use it but does not reduce the price of the service, it does not recalculate the profit sharing rate “- senior analyst inspector.
WHAT HOANG
