Deputy Minister of Health Trần Văn Thuấn speaks at a conference on November 25. — Photo courtesy of the Medical Services Administration

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s healthcare system has made significant strides towards international standards over the past decade, Deputy Minister of Health Trần Văn Thuấn said at a conference on Tuesday, marking 10 years of systematic quality improvements.

The event, organised by the Medical Services Administration under the Ministry of Health, reviewed the implementation of the National Action Programme to enhance the capacity for medical examination and treatment quality management from 2015 to 2025.

“The quality of medical examination and treatment is the key to creating the reliability of medical services, of doctors and of the entire healthcare system,” Thuấn said.

He highlighted three major achievements in quality management over the past decade.

Firstly, a comprehensive quality management system has been established from central to local levels. The Ministry of Health’s Decision 4276 in 2015 laid the foundation for the National Action Programme, enabling hospitals for the first time to develop a systematic structure, a quality management apparatus, standardised tools and a strategic orientation on quality with a vision to 2025.

Secondly, the standardisation of clinical practice through the Hospital Quality Criteria issued in 2013 and revised in 2016 marked a turning point. This shift encouraged hospitals to move from administrative management to evidence-based management prioritising data, patient safety and compliance with the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment enacted in 2023.

Thirdly, a culture of patient safety and continuous improvement has been fostered. Serious incident rates have fallen, many clinical issues have been detected early, and numerous processes have been standardised, ushering in a new phase of risk management in hospitals.

Deputy Minister Thuấn also emphasised the role of digital transformation in quality management. Many hospitals has now been applying artificial intelligence to read scans, classify patients, and support clinical decisions.

Despite these achievements, Thuấn noted that the Vietnamese health system still faces challenges. Major hospitals remain overloaded, procedures for medical examination and treatment are often cumbersome, and there is ongoing misuse of drugs, tests, and techniques.

Uneven quality across professional levels, shortages of skilled human resources, and financial mechanisms that fail to incentivise quality continue to present obstacles for Việt Nam’s developing healthcare system.

MSA director Dr Hà Anh Đức speaks at a conference on November 25. — Photo courtesy of the MSA

MSA Director Dr Hà Anh Đức said the goal for the next decade is to bring Việt Nam's quality standards closer to international benchmarks, promote independent certification, introduce quality-linked payment mechanisms, expand digital transformation, enhance human resource capacity and foster a sustainable culture of quality across all medical examination and treatment facilities.

Looking ahead, the MSA plans to research and develop a new set of hospital quality standards building on existing achievements. These standards will be tailored to Việt Nam's specific characteristics while aligning with international practices, and will include a clear implementation roadmap enabling hospitals to proactively improve and sustain quality, moving steadily towards international levels, Dr Đức said.

Statistics from the MSA show that over the past 10 years, the quality management system in medical facilities has been broadly established nationwide. Nearly 99 per cent of hospitals now have a Quality Management Council, 77 per cent have dedicated staff, with each facility employing an average of two to three staff members.

However, only 23 per cent of hospitals have a non-concurrent head of quality management, highlighting a continuing shortage of specialised human resources.

Implementation of patient safety regulations has reached high levels in most areas, including correct patient identification, procedural safety, medication safety, infection control, fall prevention and communication among medical staff. Each area achieved an implementation rate of 90 per cent or higher, reflecting significant improvements in both awareness and practice of patient safety.

In terms of quality improvement activities, 95 per cent of hospitals develop annual quality improvement plans and more than 87 per cent track quality indicators. Yet only 50 per cent of facilities publicly disclose these indicators, suggesting that transparency and a strong safety culture remain uneven across localities. — VNS