Licensing conditions for specialty clinics in Vietnam

Licensing conditions for specialty clinics in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. Licensing conditions for specialty clinics in Vietnam

According to Article 43 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP, in addition to complying with the general conditions stipulated in Article 40 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP, specialty clinics must meet the following conditions:

* Scale and Organizational Structure:

- Must have at least one specialty;- In case the specialized clinic meets the corresponding conditions with the organizational forms of other medical examination and treatment facilities as prescribed in Article 39 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP (except hospital form), it can add corresponding areas of practice with the organizational forms of those medical facilities but not exceeding a maximum of three organizational forms.

* Facilities:

- The clinic must have a reception area for patients and examination rooms with a minimum area of ​​10 m^2^;- If performing technical procedures, in addition to the examination room, there must be an additional room for performing technical procedures with a minimum area of ​​10 m^2^; if performing rehabilitation techniques, the room for performing such procedures must have a minimum area of ​​20 m^2^;- There must be a sterilization area to process reusable medical instruments, except in cases where there are no instruments that need to be sterilized again or there is a contract with another medical facility to sterilize instruments.

* Anaphylaxis Emergency Kit and Enough Specialized Emergency Medication suitable for the specialized scopes of the clinic.

2. General regulations on personnel of specialty clinics in Vietnam

Clause 4, Article 40 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP provides the personnel requirements for granting operational licenses for specialty clinics in Vietnam as follows:

- The health facility must employ sufficient medical practitioners according to its scale and list of professional techniques, and ensure the medical practitioner ratio set by the Minister of Health of Vietnam (including medical practitioners who have been issued with practicing licenses by licensing authorities in people’s armed forces, stop working in people’s armed forces but still use their issued practicing licenses);

- The person in charge of professional practices of the health facility must be its full-time medical practitioner whose scope of practice is appropriate to its scope of professional activities, and who has practiced within such scope of professional activities for at least 36 months, except a medical practitioner who is a herbalist, folk remedy holder or folk therapy holder.

In case the health facility has different specialties, the scope of practice on the practicing license of its person in charge of professional practices must be appropriate to one of its registered specialties;

- The manager of a professional department or unit of the health facility must possess a practicing license appropriate to his/her in-charge specialty and must be its full-time medical practitioner;

- Medical practitioners must be vested with tasks appropriate to their scope of practice approved by competent authorities;

- Medical technicians whose scope of practice involves medical laboratory and who possess bachelor’s degrees may read and sign test reports. In case the health facility does not have any medical practitioner who is granted a practicing license for the title of doctor specializing in medical laboratory technology or medical technician possessing bachelor’s degree whose scope of practice involves medical laboratory, the doctor giving prescription for testing shall read and sign such test report.

- Medical technicians whose scope of practice involves medical imaging and who possess bachelor’s degrees may read and describe diagnostic images. In case the health facility does not have any medical practitioner who is granted a practicing license for the title of doctor specializing in medical imaging technique or medical technician possessing bachelor’s degree whose scope of practice involves medical laboratory, the doctor giving prescription for medical imaging technique shall read and sign such medical imaging report;

- Other persons engaging in medical examination and treatment without holding practicing licenses as prescribed in point d clause 2 Article 19 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 (such as medical physics engineers, radiotherapy engineers, biotechnology engineers, biotechnology bachelors and other persons (hereinafter referred to as “employees”) may perform professional activities as assigned by the health facility’s person in charge of professional practices. This assignment must be appropriate to professional qualification and capacity of the assigned employee.

- If a medical practitioner who is a lecturer of a training institution in healthcare sector is working at a health facility that acts as an instructing facility accepting medical interns from that training institution, he/she may hold the position of manager of a professional department, department or ward of that health facility.

3. Licensing conditions for interspecialty clinics in Vietnam

According to Article 44 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP, in addition to complying with the general conditions stipulated in Article 40 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP, new interspecialty clinics must meet the following conditions:

* Scale and Organizational Structure:

- Must have at least two specialties (not including internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics, and pediatrics);- In case the multi-specialty clinic meets the corresponding conditions with the organizational forms of other medical examination and treatment facilities as prescribed in Article 39 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP (except hospital form), the multi-specialty clinic can add scale and scope of activities corresponding to the organizational forms of those medical facilities but not exceeding a maximum of three organizational forms.

* Facilities:

Each specialized clinic within the multi-specialty clinic must comply with Clause 2, Article 43 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP.

* Anaphylaxis Emergency Kit and Enough Specialized Emergency Medication suitable for the specialties included in the scope of the multi-specialty clinic’s activities.

* Person in Charge: The head of each specialized clinic within the multi-specialty clinic must be a full-time practitioner at the clinic and have a scope of practice suitable for the specialty they are in charge of, with a minimum of 36 months of practice in that scope.

To Quoc Trinh

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