Hanoi (VNA) - Nguyen Thi Lua, 54, a homemaker in Hanoi,was detected with leukaemia at Saint Paul Hospital where she had registered fora check-up, funded by health insurance.

Oncediagnosed with blood cancer, Lua was sent to the National Institute ofHaematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) for treatment. However, at the NIHBT,the highest medical facility that specialises in blood diseases, doctorsrefused to use the results of the tests conducted at Saint Paul Hospital.

Lua wasforced to spend another half a day undergoing tests that she had done just afew days ago. The only good thing is that the health insurance fund will payfor tests conducted at both hospitals.

Lua isamong the thousands of patients who have to repeatedly undergo the same medicaltests as they are sent from a hospital to a higher-level or more specialisedmedical facility. While it’s a waste of valuable time for patients and healthworkers, it’s a waste of money for the health insurance fund.

However,from 2018, hospitals and medical facilities of first and special levels willstart recognising and using patient examination and treatment test results fromother such facilities.

Nguyen TrongKhoa, deputy director of the health ministry’s Medical Service Administration(MSA), said that there are currently 50 ISO-15189 compliant medicallaboratories in 40 central and provincial hospitals that will startimplementing the mutual recognition plan from July this year.

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 “Mutualrecognition of test results means a hospital recognises test results fromothers in several cases when tests still have usage value and depending on thepatient’s condition,” said Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the MSA, while speakingat a workshop in Hanoi last week.

“Thismeans that some test results may be used by other hospitals or medicalfacilities for patient diagnosis, treatment and supervision that will help savetest expenses.”

Theworkshop on implementing the national laboratory quality management criteria,for mutual recognition of test results, was aimed at handling issues faced whenhospitals or medical facilities don’t recognise test results.

Khue saidthat by 2020, all medical tests conducted by certain laboratories can be linkedand accessed by all hospitals and medical facilities in the same city orprovince. By 2025, this information-sharing model will be nationwide.

According to the health ministry, the country’shospitals conduct roughly 475 million tests, including 200 million blood testsand 25 million microbiological tests annually, at a growth rate of 10 percenteach year. Reducing even one percent of the country’s total tests would reducearound 4.75 million tests annually, Khue said.

“If a test costs 50,000 VND (2.2 USD), we couldsave 237.5 billion VND of the health insurance fund.”

Thehealth ministry has developed criteria required for biochemical, blood andmicrobiological tests that will be applied across laboratories. These will layimportant foundation for hospitals and medical facilities to mutually recogniseand use test results, Khue said.

Theministry will also tighten inspection and supervision on test prescriptionprocesses in hospitals to prevent overuse of tests, Khoa said.-VNA