State policies on healthcare in Vietnam

State policies on healthcare in Vietnam (Internet image) 

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. State policies on healthcare in Vietnam

- The State plays a leading role in promotion of healthcare activities; mobilize social resources needed for delivery of medical services.

- Priority to have access to state budget shall be given to the following activities:

+ Developing medical establishments under the grassroots health care or out-of-hospital emergency care system; concentrate investments in medical establishments in border areas, islands, ethnic minority and mountainous areas, poor areas or extreme poor areas;

+ Delivering healthcare to people rendering meritorious services to the revolution; children, the elderly, people with disabilities, people from poor households, people from near-poor households; people living in border areas, islands, poor areas, extreme poor areas; people with mental illness, leprosy; people suffering Group-A infectious diseases; people suffering group-B infectious diseases specified in the List adopted by the Minister of Health;

+ Further promoting workforce in the health industry, especially personnel working in infectious diseases, psychiatry, anatomic pathology, forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, resuscitation in emergency medicine, and other subspecialties or branches that need to be preferred to meet socio-economic development needs and conditions over time in accordance with the Government’s regulations;

+ Conducting and applying researches in science, technology and digital transformation in the healthcare industry.

- Promoting public-private partnership; applying investment incentives in the healthcare industry. Medical establishments shall be entitled to incentive loans to invest in improving the quality of medical services; be exempt from corporate income taxes on the undivided portion of income that is retained as their capital investments.

- Investing in healthcare facilities in poor areas, extreme poor areas and not-for-profit medical establishments that are defined as those in the industries and sectors entitled to special investment incentives in the List of industries and professions entitled to investment incentives.

- Carrying out the personnel rotation policy under which practitioners are transferred among state-owned medical establishments.

- Granting special remuneration policies to practitioners.

- Adopting policies for development of human resources in hospital management and administration.

- Promoting the roles of healthcare socio-professional organizations in medical examination and treatment services.

- Upholding and promoting traditional medicine; combining traditional medicine with modern medicine.

- Combining military and civil medicine in healthcare.

(Article 4 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023)

2. Principles of provision of medical services in Vietnam

Principles of provision of medical services in Vietnam are prescribed in Article 3 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 as follows:

- Respect, protect, and treat patients equally, and stop stigma or discrimination towards patients.

- Give priority to have access to medical services to patients in a state of emergency; children aged under 6 years; pregnant women; people with extremely severe disabilities; people with severe disabilities; people aged 75 years or older; people rendering meritorious services to the revolution, depending on the particular characteristics of each medical establishment.

- Respect, cooperate with and protect practitioners and other persons on duty at medical establishments.

- Promptly implement and comply with regulations on professional and technical expertise in healthcare.

- Comply with the code of professional ethics in the practice of medicine approved by the Minister of Health.

- Ensure equality and fairness among medical establishments.

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