Joint Circular No. 16/TT-LB guiding the contents and expenditure regulations for the National Expanded Immunization Program

CIRCULAR

JOINT MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FINANCE DECREE NO. 16/TT-LB DATED JUNE 23, 1988

GUIDELINES FOR THE CONTENT AND EXPENSE REGIME FOR

THE NATIONAL EXTENDED IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM

In implementation of Circular No. 241-V9 dated March 2, 1988 of the Council of Ministers on accelerating the extended immunization program for children in 1988 and subsequent years to prevent diseases; to facilitate the completion of annual immunization targets; the Joint Ministry of Health and Finance temporarily provides guidelines for the content and expense regime for the national extended immunization program as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Institutions directly implementing the extended immunization program according to the State's annual immunization targets must prepare annual and quarterly budgets for submission to their superior management authorities for review and consolidation, which will then be submitted to the financial authorities at the same level. The financial authorities shall examine and consolidate these budgets into the annual state budget plan for approval by the People's Committees at all levels.

2. Approved funds for the extended immunization program must be used strictly for their intended purpose and according to the plan, and may not be diverted for other purposes.

3. Quarterly and annually, institutions directly implementing the extended immunization program must prepare final accounts reports for submission to their superior management authorities for review; these reports will then be consolidated and submitted to the financial authorities at the same level.

II. CONTENT AND SOME EXPENSE REGIMES FOR

THE EXTENDED IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM

1. Content of business expenses for the extended immunization program.

- Expenses for transporting and handling vaccines from airports and seaports to cold storage facilities and vaccination areas.

- Cold storage maintenance expenses such as electricity, fuel, and repair costs for cold storage facilities and refrigeration equipment.

- Expenses for training sessions on vaccination and dissemination of policies related to the extended immunization program at central, provincial, city, district, and county levels.

- Publicity expenses such as printing posters and banners to support the extended immunization program.

- Expenses for medical supplies, cotton, alcohol, bandages for direct vaccination activities.

- Office supplies such as paper, pens, ink for recording, monitoring, and evaluating vaccination work.

- Expenses for compensating health workers and personnel directly serving the extended immunization program.

- Expenses for hiring transportation and working tools, and hosting foreign experts assisting the extended immunization program.

2. Some expense regimes.

a) Compensation regime for village, ward, town, and commune (referred to as commune) representatives directly engaged in the extended immunization program. Regular participants in this work include:

- Representatives of the Red Cross or Women's Union at the commune level who directly disseminate information and mobilize mothers to bring their children for vaccination, guide and urge groups of children to register for the vaccination program.

- Health workers at the commune level who directly administer vaccinations and give oral vaccines to children, with the number of health workers determined based on the number of children eligible for vaccination.

- The maximum compensation amount is equivalent to the price of 0.3 kilograms of rice when fully vaccinating one child under one year old. The price of rice is calculated based on the commercial trade price in the locality.

Conditions for payment of allowances:

- The amount of allowance must be based on the vaccination results in each commune, ward, township.

- Allowances shall only be paid after the vaccination results have been inspected according to the guidance of the central vaccination steering committee.

- It may also be possible to advance payment of up to 50 to 70 percent of the subsidy amount (depending on the vaccination results). The vaccination result refers to the number of children under one year old who have been fully vaccinated with six types of vaccines against six infectious diseases in children.

b) State cadres, workers, and employees in the health sector directly involved in expanded immunization activities at the commune, ward, and township levels shall enjoy travel expenses according to the current regulations.

III. SOURCES OF FUNDS

1. Operational fees for the expanded immunization program, which are managed by the budget level overseeing the direct implementation of the program, shall be covered by that budget level.

2. Funding for allowances for staff regularly engaged in expanded immunization activities mentioned in point 2, sub-item a, item II of this Circular shall be provided by local budgets and foreign aid sources (if any) within the expanded immunization program. Specifically, in 1988, the funding shall be covered by the Ministry of Health's budget from foreign aid sources within the expanded immunization program and foreign currency contributions from medical experts. These entities must strictly manage and settle accounts for these funds according to current regulations with financial authorities at the same level and superior management bodies.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

This Circular takes effect from the date of signature and applies throughout the period of implementing the expanded immunization program.

Any difficulties encountered during implementation should be promptly reported to the Joint Ministries by the relevant entities.