“They just need fairness,” he said. “They have paid money, so they must be treated properly.”

Xuan was quoted by newswire Vnexpress as saying that he and others he knew often had to wait in line for hours at local hospitals just for examinations.

He said examinations were too quick and that doctors more often than not simply asked a few questions from a pre-written form.

“A doctor once gave me a prescription without asking if I had been using any other pharmaceuticals or whether or not I might be allergic to it.”

He also said that many doctors were receiving commissions from drugstores and thus only prescribing expensive drugs.

“The draft should include a ban on such commissions and fines for those who break it. Such acts are nothing less than bribery.”

Representative Huynh Van Ty said the draft law should put these and other medical standards into law so that they are easier to enforce.

Others at the session said doctors should be banned from appearing in ads for treatment services or functional foods. Some said such advertising was “cheating patients.”

Representatives at the session also called for more regulations to make sure that doctors work just as hard at hospitals as they do at their own private clinics.

Ly Kim Khanh said doctors at private clinics were often more devoted to the clinics than to hospitals they also work at.

Too much work at home could also affect the doctors’ ability to perform their job well when they come to work at hospitals, Khanh added.

The draft law is expected to be passed next month.

Source: Thanh Nien