HANOI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will spend 1.8 trillion Vietnamese dong (112.5 million U.S. dollars) upgrading big hospitals at the central level from now to 2010, according to local newspaper New Hanoi on Thursday.

    Most of the fund will be used to equip existing hospitals in big cities and provinces nationwide with more advanced medical facilities, and build their branches in suburban areas. Now, hospitals specializing in treatment of tuberculosis, cancer and infectious diseases in such big localities as Hanoi capital, northern Hai Phong city and southern Ho Chi Minh City are heavily overloaded.

    Vietnam's Health Ministry will issue more favorable mechanisms to encourage the development of private hospitals in the coming time.

    In the 2006-2007 period, 66 private hospitals and 45,000 private clinics in Vietnam conducted a total of 75 million medical check-ups and tens of thousands of surgery, helping reduce overloads at state-run hospitals.