Is a person permitted to provide medical services in Vietnam required to have a certificate of practice of medicine?
- Is a person permitted to provide medical services in Vietnam required to have a certificate of practice of medicine?
- When is a medical practitioner who is a foreigner or overseas Vietnamese allowed to use other languages rather than Vietnamese to provide medical care?
- What are the cases where medical practitioners are subject to prohibition of the practice of medicine in Vietnam?
Is a person permitted to provide medical services in Vietnam required to have a certificate of practice of medicine?
Pursuant to Article 19 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023:
Conditions for an individual’s eligibility to practise medicine
1. Any individual shall be permitted to provide medical services in Vietnam when fully meeting the following requirements:
a) His/her certificate of practice of medicine remains valid;
b) He/she has obtained registration for practice of medicine, except as prescribed in clause 3 of Article 36 herein;
c) He/she satisfies language proficiency requirements in healthcare as set out in Article 21 herein;
d) He/she reaches health standards required by the Minister of Health;
dd) He/she is not any of those covered in Article 20 herein.
2. Any individual may practise as a medical practitioner without being required to satisfy the conditions specified in point a, b and c of clause 1 of this Article when:
a) he/she is a learner or student studying at a health training institution; a person who is practising as a medical intern before being eligible for a practicing license; a person who is waiting for a practicing license to be conferred and only practice medicine under the supervision of a practitioner;
b) as a village health worker, village midwife or health worker working at a health care agency, unit or organization that is not incorporated as a medical establishment, he/she may only practise medicine within the range of assigned duties and after completing a training course in specialties or professional skills decided by the Minister of Health;
c) he/she is one of the subjects of application of clause 1 of Article 115 herein;
d) he/she is someone else participating in the process of medical care as instructed by the Government.
3. Any foreigner or overseas Vietnamese who has obtained a practicing license issued by a competent foreign agency or organization may organize humanitarian outreach healthcare campaigns at intervals, cooperate in provision of training courses on medicine involving medical internship, or transfer professional techniques in medicine under the provisions of this Law, without the encumbrance of the conditions specified in point a and b of clause 1 of this Article.
4. Any person participating in a community-based medical emergency who is not an out-of-hospital paramedic shall not be required to satisfy the conditions specified in clause 1 of this Article.
Thus, an individual shall be permitted to provide medical services in Vietnam when fully meeting the conditions for an individual’s eligibility to practise medicine.
An individual may practise as a medical practitioner without having a certificate of practice of medicine if:
- he/she is a learner or student studying at a health training institution; a person who is practising as a medical intern before being eligible for a practicing license; a person who is waiting for a practicing license to be conferred and only practice medicine under the supervision of a practitioner;
- as a village health worker, village midwife or health worker working at a health care agency, unit or organization that is not incorporated as a medical establishment, he/she may only practise medicine within the range of assigned duties and after completing a training course in specialties or professional skills decided by the Minister of Health;
- he/she is one of the subjects of application of clause 1 of Article 115 herein;
- he/she is someone else participating in the process of medical care as instructed by the Government.
Is a person permitted to provide medical services in Vietnam required to have a certificate of practice of medicine? (Image from the Internet)
When is a medical practitioner who is a foreigner or overseas Vietnamese allowed to use other languages rather than Vietnamese to provide medical care?
Pursuant to Article 21 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 on use of languages in the practice of medicine:
Use of languages in the practice of medicine
1. The language used in the delivery of healthcare is Vietnamese, except as defined in clause 2 of this Article.
2. Any medical practitioner who is a foreigner or overseas Vietnamese (hereinafter referred to as foreign practitioner) may use other languages rather than Vietnamese to provide medical care to patients if:
a) these patients and their practitioners use the same language; these patients are proficient in the languages that medical practitioners have registered for use in their practice of medicine;
b) these patients are foreigners and are not covered in point a of this clause;
c) the humanitarian outreach healthcare campaign organized at intervals; the transfer of professional and technical expertise in healthcare takes place under the cooperation agreement between a medical establishment of Vietnam and a foreign medical establishment.
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Thus, a medical practitioner who is a foreigner or overseas Vietnamese must use Vietnamese to provide medical care.
Except for some cases where a medical practitioner may use other languages rather than Vietnamese to provide medical care to patients as follows:
- these patients and their practitioners use the same language; these patients are proficient in the languages that medical practitioners have registered for use in their practice of medicine;
- these patients are foreigners and are not covered in point a of this clause;
- the humanitarian outreach healthcare campaign organized at intervals; the transfer of professional and technical expertise in healthcare takes place under the cooperation agreement between a medical establishment of Vietnam and a foreign medical establishment.
What are the cases where medical practitioners are subject to prohibition of the practice of medicine in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 20 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 on medical practitioners subject to prohibition of the practice of medicine:
(1) Any medical practitioner who is criminally prosecuted for any offence involving their application of professional and technical expertise in healthcare.
(2) Any medical practitioner who is serving a suspended sentence or non-custodial correctional sentence for any offence involving their application of professional and technical expertise in healthcare.
(3) Any person or individual previously serving imprisoned for an offence involving their application of professional and technical expertise in healthcare, but released on conditional parole, who is being put on probation.
(4) Any medical practitioner who serves a prison sentence or is incurring an administrative penalty by being forced into a compulsory reform school or detoxification center.
(5) Any medical practitioner who is banned from practicing medicine under a criminal judgment of the court of legal effect, or is subject to a restriction on the practice of medicine pursuant to the decision of a competent authority.
(6) Any medical practitioner that loses his/her capacity to perform civil acts or has impaired cognition or difficulties in behavior control, or restricted capacity to perform his/her civil acts.
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