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The poor material facilities cited by medical schools is not the only reason behind the low training quality of the schools. Experts believe that the most important reason lies in the teaching method.

Medical schools only accept the students who obtain very high marks from the university entrance exams. This means that only brilliant students can be enrolled in the schools. Therefore, it’s enigmatic why the brilliant students can become average or bad physicians after they finish the schools.

Medical schools choose wrong students?

B, a fifth year student of a medical student, who was in the internship period at the People’s Hospital 115 in HCM City, said she registered to study at the medical school because the career allows to earn much money, while physicians are respectful in the society. Meanwhile, B admitted that she chose the major not because she loved the career.

A lecturer of the Pham Ngoc Thach Medical School said the school conducts annual surveys about why students choose to become physicians, and the common answers are the family’s tradition and the expected high income.

Do Hong Ngoc from the Pham Ngoc Thach Medical School thinks that the current method of enrolling students for medical school shows problem, because this does not allow to find out the real comprehensive capability of students.

Currently, in order to study at medical schools, students have to pass the B-group university entrance exam, which means that they have to attend the mathematics, chemistry and biology exams.

However, Ngoc thinks that students still need to attend a foreign language exam as well and write an essay about why they choose to become doctors. They should also undergo the interviews where interviewers can find out if the students can become good doctors later.

Ngoc said that 50 years ago, students had to attend four exams and answer 20 questions to show their socio-economic knowledge.

“A good physician needs to have deep knowledge about culture, history, geography, music and literature, who has sympathy with patients. If not, they would be simply the workers who treat diseases or carry out operations,” he said.

Nguyen Minh Tri Vien from the HCM City Cardiology Institute also thinks that there should be the specific requirements for medical students.

Wrong investment strategy

The overloading at hospitals and the lack of physicians in HCM City is believed to be the result of the wrong human resource development strategy. Experts believe that it is necessary to strengthen healthcare establishments at the grassroots level, so that people can have their diseases treated at the establishments and they do not have to go to central hospitals.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has been following the opposite direction. Over the last decades, excellent graduates of the Pham Ngoc Thach School have been sent to central hospitals, while the graduates with lower grades have to work at smaller healthcare establishments.

However, most of the physicians working at the establishments give up the jobs just after a short period of working because of the low income which is not enough to cover their basic needs. That explains why Vietnam has always been lacking healthcare officers.

While students do not feel enjoyable in studying, lecturers also feel tired of the jobs because they cannot live with the career.

A lecturer of the HCM City Medical and Pharmaceutical University who has doctorate, said that he receives 3 million dong a month for this job as the lecturer. Meanwhile, if he works for a hospital, his fixed salary would be double.

Therefore, a lot of lecturers have to take extra jobs to earn extra money, or they would not be able to continue working as lecturers. In general, they would carry out operations to the orders by hospitals, or work as collaborators for pharmacy firms.