I. Social Security fo ra Few
9 Tuổi trẻ Online Dân bức xúc với khoảng cách giàu ng-
hèo tăng. http://tuoitre.vn/tin/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/20150724/ dan-buc-xuc-voi-khoang-cach-giau-ngheo-tang/782142. html
10 Lao Động. Khoảng cách ghê gớm. http://laodong.com.vn/su-kien-binh-luan/khoang-cach-ghe-gom-87166.bld vn/su-kien-binh-luan/khoang-cach-ghe-gom-87166.bld
but also in terms of necessities such as access to electricity, water, medical care, educational opportunities, and especially opportunities for career advancement.
Even though the Vietnamese Constitution stipulates: “Everyone has the right to health protection and care, and to equality in the use of medical services and has the obligation to comply with regulations on the prevention of disease and medical examination or treatment” (Article 38), in reality, the inequality in health services between the rich and the poor, and between different racial and ethnic groups is worsening.
Statistically, the poor were twice as likely to suffer illnesses as the wealthy did.11
In terms of health care, the national press in recent years reflected fairly enough about deteriorating aspects of the healthcare system, from the quality of service, facility, to personnel, especially the discrimination favoring the rich over the poor. A well-known medical service document gave full descriptions of different services in public hospitals. Wealthy patients could choose different levels of amenities called “A, B, C voluntary treatments” while poor patients had no such choice. One should note the hypocrisy in the following statement: “The introduction of the service sector represents the State’s socialization of the healthcare.”12
Mismanagement along with medical practitioners’ ethical deterioration has put Vietnam’s healthcare in an alarming situation. According to a study in Ho Chi Minh City, 76% of respondents said they had given “envelopes” to health care workers. Previous studies in Hanoi also recorded approximately 70% of the
11Ibid.
12 Báo VietNamNet. Phân biệt giàu nghèo trong bệnh viện công. http://www.tintucngaynay.com/tintuc/ vietn- viện công. http://www.tintucngaynay.com/tintuc/ vietn- amnet.vn/vn/xa-hoi/83441/phan-biet-giau-ngheo- trong- benh-vien-cong.htm
patients giving similar responses.13
Healthcare disparities between urban residents and minorities in remote villages have not i m p r o v e d .
A c c o r d i n g to the World Bank, the rate of malnutrition among children of ethnic minorities was twice that of the rest of
the population.14 Recent independent studies showed that minorities do not receive equality in healthcare services, from preventative care to medical treatment opportunities.15 According to the Save the Children Organization, the mortality rate of ethnic children under the age of five accounts for 54% of all deaths in the same age group across the country,16 while ethnic minorities account for only about 13% of the total population.
Educational opportunities, an advantage for the advancement of individuals and families, are still scarce for ethnic minorities. As reported by the World Bank in 2014, the inequality of educational opportunities remains a major concern in Vietnam. Poor children, especially minority children, have less opportunity than