At the meeting, Director of the Provincial Construction Investment Management Board for Civil and Industrial Projects Nguyen Van Do reported on the implementation status of the construction investment project to expand the scale of hospital beds at Son Dong district medical center; project to build, repair and upgrade commune health stations under the Investment Program to develop grassroots health network in disadvantaged areas using loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Bac Giang province invested by the Provincial Construction Investment Management Board for Civil and Industrial Projects.

The construction investment project to expand the scale of hospital beds at Son Dong district medical center had a total land area of ​​about 0.8 hectares with a total investment of more than 120 billion VND from the central budget and provincial budget capital. The project was to build a new 6-storey central block, with a total construction floor area of ​​more than 6 thousand m2 to accommodate the following departments: emergency resuscitation, anti-poisoning; maternity; surgery; interdisciplinary faculty; department of surgery - anesthesia and resuscitation; dialysis area. The project started construction in July 2023, currently about 70% of the work had been completed. The project was expected to be completed by the end of October this year.

The project to build, repair and upgrade commune health stations using loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Bac Giang province included the following items: New construction of 5 commune health stations; renovation and repairing of 17 commune health stations including 4 medical stations in Long Son, Van Son, Phuc Son, Giao Liem communes in Son Dong district. The projects were implemented smoothly, with basically no difficulties or problems. Currently, the completed work volume was about 43%, and it was expected to complete repair and renovation of all 4 commune health stations by October 2024.

Reporting on the implementation of planting medicinal plants in Son Dong district, Vice Chairwoman of the District People's Committee Tong Thi Huong Giang said that the district had planned 4 medicinal plant growing areas with an area of ​​600 hectares in 15 communes, town; nearly 362 hectares for precious medicinal plants in 9 communes and towns including Huu San, An Lac, Van Son, An Ba, Tuan Dao, Thanh Luan, Long Son, Duong Huu and Tay Yen Tu town.

Up to now, the Agricultural Technical and Service Center of the district was building a project to support production links along the value chain of growing medicinal plants in the communes: Long Son, Duong Huu, Huu San, Le Vien with an area of ​​more than 25 hectares. The district had mobilized more than 40 people from poor households, near-poor households, recently escaping poverty and households with good economic experience to participate in crop production activities including leonurus japonicus, camellia chrysantha, desmodium styracifolium, gynochthodes officinalis. In particular, the gynochthodes officinalis planting project in Long Son commune with 10 thousand roots could bring an estimated yield of 20 tons/ha.

However, the implementation of planting medicinal plants in the district still faced some difficulties related to stable output for products. Currently, businesses purchasing medicinal herbs only focused on a few products, while many types of plants people were growing had not found businesses to cover the output. Besides, many crops did not have economic - technical norms or had low economic - technical norms, etc.

Reporting on the implementation status of other projects in the National Target Program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the first 6 months of 2024, leaders of Son Dong district said the district encountered some difficulties. For example, the situation of African swine fever in the district was complicated, leading to the project to support production development along the value chain, promote business startups, entrepreneurship and attract investment in ethnic minorities and mountainous areas being behind schedule. The form and method of selecting contractors for renovation and maintenance projects funded by non-business capital under the National Target Program with a construction and installation package price limit of no more than 1 billion VND was unclear, specifically causing the district to encounter difficulties in contractor selection, etc.

At the meeting, delegates exchanged, discussed, and clarified contents related to bidding procedures for maintenance and repair using public funds; developing technical procedures for growing precious medicinal plants; selecting sustainable agricultural and forestry development projects suitable to the conditions of poor people; crop orientation; investment project to purchase specialized medical equipment; dossiers and procedures for registration of mineral exploitation licenses; infrastructure investment, etc.

Concluding the meeting, Standing Vice Chairman of Provincial People's Committee Mai Son acknowledged and highly appreciated the Provincial Construction Investment Management Board for Civil and Industrial Projects and Son Dong district for their efforts in carrying out the assigned tasks. Projects in the district basically ensured the scheduled progress andthe required quality.

However, he also noted that the progress of disbursement of capital from the National Target Program in Son Dong district was still low, affecting the disbursement results of the entire province. The district's legal research work was not thorough, leading to a different understanding of legal and regulatory documents than the provincial departments and sectors, leading to slow and difficult project implementation.

To complete the set goals, Standing Vice Chairman of Provincial People's Committee Mai Son requested Son Dong district to closely follow the plan and highly concentrate on completing the disbursement schedule and contents related to the direction of Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. Sectors and Son Dong district would actively coordinate and increase exchanges to clarify and unify the understanding of regulations and legal documents; be flexible and proactive in finding solutions to handle situations arising from practice, ensuring compliance with legal regulations.

Regarding the additional item of a 2-story toilet in the construction investment project to expand the scale of hospital beds at Son Dong district medical center, he requested departments and sectors to focus on appraising and approving related procedures, ensuring to start construction of items no later than November 2024.

He assigned the Department of Health to review medical equipment investment projects, ensuring timely procurement to operate synchronously with the district medical center in the near future.

Regarding medicinal plant growing activities, the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issue technical and economic norms for the proposed plants of Son Dong district in July, ensuring compliance with the regulations, science and in accordance with practice.

Son Dong district would actively coordinate with the Department of Health to search for businesses processing medicinal plants in the area to invite investment in production and consumption of medicinal products. At the same time, research and learn about high-yield plants with annual harvest, typical of the region to build and replicate planting models. Continue to pay attention to supporting technical transfer to people, ensuring efficiency. Pay attention to disease prevention and coordinate and integrate programs in the area.

Previously, the Standing Vice Chairman of Provincial People's Committee Mai Son and members of the delegation visited the gynochthodes officinalis planting model in Long Son commune, Long Son commune health station and Son Dong district medical center./.