Comparative quality of private and public health services in rural Vietnam

Abstract

Private providers are successfully competing with the public health centre system in rural areas but not because they provide cheaper or better services. The quality of private health care services is not controlled and is significantly poorer than public services. Current practice in both systems falls below the national standard, especially for the management of chronic health problems. The low quality of health care services at a community level may help explain the previously observed phenomena of high levels of self-medicating, low utilization of commune health centres and over-utilization of tertiary health care facilities.