Study on the needs, approaching capacity and medical service using of olders at 28 rural communes in 2 years 2000-2001

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out on 5,579 households of 28 rural communes, among them 1,463 households had olders. The needs of medical service were very high (prevalence of self-reported illness was 1.8-2.4 times a year). Prevalence of olders who accessed clean water was very low, and the rate of medical insurance cover was 10.96%. Access time of local infirmaries was 12.3 minutes, of private drugstores was 11.1 minutes, and of hospitals was 14 minutes. The average cost of 1 illness course was 134,500VND. It’s necessary to strengthen communication about drug use, to increase amount of physicians in local infirmaries, and to promote local medical services.