State policies on healthcare in Vietnam

State policies on healthcare in Vietnam (Internet image)

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. State management of healthcare in Vietnam

- Objectives of the State management of healthcare, including:

+ Formulate, promulgate and organize the implementation of legal documents on healthcare; adopt a system of technical standards and regulations on healthcare;

+ Develop, adopt and implement healthcare strategies, policies, programs, projects and plans;

+ Formulate, adopt and implement the planning scheme on development of the system of medical establishments in accordance with law on planning;

+ Set forth regulatory provisions regarding professional and technical expertise, criteria, standards and regulations in healthcare;

+ Organize, design and manage the system of medical establishments; assess the quality of medical establishments;

+ Confer, suspend and revoke practising licenses of practitioners; operating licenses of medical establishments;

+ Provide training courses designed to develop human resources needed for delivery of medical services; provide education about, propagate and disseminate knowledge and laws on medical examination and treatment; offer guidance on application of the policy for rotation of practitioners;

+ Conduct scientific and technological researches; develop science and technology; transfer technologies in healthcare;

+ Design, run and administer the healthcare management information system;

+ Carry out the State management of prices of medical services in accordance with this Law and other legislation on prices;

+ Seek international cooperation in the health industry;

+ Inspect and handle complaints or accusations, and sanction any violation arising in healthcare.

- Responsibilities for the State management of healthcare shall be subject to the following regulations:

+ The Government shall be responsible for the uniform state management of healthcare;

+ The Ministry of Health shall be held accountable to the Government for its state management of healthcare;

+ The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security shall, within the range of their tasks and powers, perform the state management of healthcare, and take responsibility for organizing the healthcare systems and services under their jurisdiction pursuant to this Law;

+ Ministries and Ministry-level agencies shall, within the ambit of their duties and powers, have the burden of cooperating with the Ministry of Health in performing the task of State management of healthcare;

+ People’s Committees at all levels shall perform the state management of healthcare in areas falling within their relevant remit.

(Article 5 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023)

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