Nguyen Quang Tuan, its director, said Tuesday they included 28 doctors.

The hospital, one of Hanoi’s most renowned and popular public facilities, has around 4,300 employees.

Do Van Thanh, head of personnel management, said the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected the hospital.

While it used to have 5,500 inpatients at a time and 7,000 others coming daily for health checks, there were times during the pandemic when it had barely 1,000 inpatients, he said.

As a result its income declined sharply last year, affecting salaries, he said.

"The mental well-being of everyone from ordinary employees to managers to doctors has been affected by Covid-19."

Last September Bach Mai’s director and deputy director were arrested for allegedly overinvoicing certain medical equipment fraudulently.

This, falling salaries and offers from competitors all led to people quitting, he said.

But it was not all one way and the hospital managed to hire 500 highly qualified doctors, professors and others during the last year, he said.

It also restructured itself, excising certain departments and creating new ones, he said.

"We decided to put quality first."

In 2020 Bach Mai became the city’s first public hospital to get financial autonomy.