Bạch Mai Hospital provides timely and effective emergency care and treatment for patients during the four-day New Year holiday. — VNA/VNS Photos

HÀ NỘI — The 2026–2030 period marks a pivotal stage for Việt Nam’s medical examination and treatment system, as growing pressures from demand, demographic change and shifting disease patterns test its capacity, quality and sustainability.

The priority is no longer simply growth in size, but a transition towards deeper specialisation, stronger international integration and a health care model that puts patients at the heart of service delivery.

Dr Hà Anh Đức, director general of the Medical Services Administration at the Ministry of Health, said that during the 2021–2025 period the health care system achieved a number of important milestones. It played a vital role in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to raise service quality across all levels of care.

Medical expertise had been strengthened significantly. A wide range of advanced techniques at central and specialised hospitals now approached regional and international standards, from multi-organ transplantation and complex cardiovascular interventions to robotic surgery, assisted reproduction, regenerative medicine and nuclear medicine in cancer treatment.

Many of these techniques had been decentralised and were now routinely performed at provincial and regional hospitals, allowing patients to access high-quality services closer to where they live.

Yet the new phase of development brings with it mounting challenges. Việt Nam’s health care system must adapt to shifting disease patterns, rapid population ageing, the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and the persistent risk of epidemics and public health emergencies, according to Đức.

At the same time, people’s expectations are rising, with growing demand for timely and safe care, highly specialised and high-tech treatment, and integrated services that combine treatment, rehabilitation and wellness.

One of the most pressing weaknesses lies in pre-hospital emergency care. The system remains fragmented and falls short of international standards, particularly in response times, coordination and inter-agency connectivity. A large proportion of ambulances fail to meet technical standards, communications infrastructure is outdated and the number of ambulances per 100,000 people remains very low for the region. As a result, emergency response times are often longer than internationally recommended limits.

Demand for emergency services continues to climb. In HCM City, for example, the 115 emergency call centre received around 450,000 calls in 2025, with about 10 per cent requiring ambulance dispatch or immediate first-aid guidance.

Despite strong advantages, including an increasingly modern health care system, skilled medical professionals and a rich tradition of traditional medicine, Việt Nam has yet to establish a coherent medical tourism ecosystem. This is all the more notable given that international visitor arrivals exceeded 20 million in 2025, according to Dr Đức.

At the same time, the absence of specialised, high-tech medical centres of regional or international standing remains a significant gap. While the professional capacity of Vietnamese doctors is widely recognised, limited investment mechanisms and development pathways have led to an annual outflow of billions of US dollars as patients seek treatment overseas.

The application of information technology is enabling doctors to perform surgeries with greater accuracy.

Strategic projects for systemic change

Đức said that to tackle these issues, the Ministry of Health had proposed and received approval for three major projects to be implemented during the 2026–2030 period.

The first focuses on developing a modern pre-hospital emergency care system, the second aims to promote medical tourism and the third involves building specialised, high-tech medical centres.

For the pre-hospital emergency care project, goals include the creation of a professional, unified and interconnected system nationwide, with strong inter-sectoral coordination. Key measures include the application of digital technology and artificial intelligence in call reception and dispatch, investment in workers and equipment, and efforts to shorten response times to improve survival rates and reduce long-term complications.

The Ministry of Health is currently piloting this model in six provinces and cities: Bắc Ninh, Hải Phòng, Hà Tĩnh, Đà Nẵng, Khánh Hòa and An Giang, with plans to expand to additional localities in 2026.

As for medical tourism, the project is designed to develop the industry into a comprehensive service sector that integrates modern medicine, traditional medicine, rehabilitation and holistic health care. Emphasis will be placed on developing high-quality products, standardised service chains and effective promotion to attract international visitors, while curbing the flow of patients travelling abroad for treatment.

The project to establish specialised medical centres aims to create a network of modern, internationally aligned institutions capable of leading in clinical expertise, research and high-level training. These centres are expected to serve as the backbone of the health care system, driving mastery of advanced technologies and raising overall service quality.

Despite differing in focus, the three projects are closely linked and mutually reinforcing, forming a coordinated strategy to enhance the capacity, quality and sustainability of Việt Nam’s health care system while delivering clear benefits for patients and supporting long-term socio-economic development. — VNS