Vietnam has registered remarkable progress in health gains over recent decades. Nevertheless, increasing problems necessitate some suggestions on improving the healthcare system in Vietnam, which is currently characterized by overcrowding, quality variance, and increasing demand.
The nationwide healthcare system serves about 200 million healthcare visits each year, which include about 180 million covered under health insurance. This requires improvement on many fronts.
Addressing Hospital Overcrowding
Hospitals in the city of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh receive up to 60 percent of the country’s patients. They operate at 200 percent of full capacity.
The basic problem, however, is rooted in weak grassroots health services that do not retain residents in these facilities. People do not go to these facilities at the district level, opting instead to go straight to hospitals in the center, even if their health concerns could be addressed at the district level. Developing trust in grassroots levels in tackling health issues necessitates investment in facilities, training, and quality improvement efforts.
As pointed out by the Minister for Health Dao Hong Lan, people expect shorter waiting times. They expect a smoother administrative process. This is far from the truth because currently, patients go through a long list of waiting processes such as registration, testing, hospitalization, and finally the collection of test results.
Strengthening Primary Care
One of the most important suggestions on improving the healthcare system in Vietnam includes the importance of primary care delivery. The district and commune levels require significant attention to upgrade and build their infrastructure, equipment, and medicine stocks. By improving and delivering basic and routine patient care at these levels, fewer people will visit distant hospitals.
Any issue concerning the quality of staff at the grassroots level should be treated with utmost urgency. There exists a huge gap in the geographical distribution of healthcare professionals in urban and rural areas across countries. Hence, to retain the best talent for rural medical facilities, the incentive and development packages should be attractive.
Rotation programs that send rotation teams from central hospitals to support hospitals on a short-term basis may also help transfer knowledge and build capacity. Strengthening mentoring relationships between higher and lower levels of healthcare facilities may also improve performance significantly.
Accelerating Digital Transformation
Around 30 million people will have an electronic health record by 2025, and over 1,200 public and private hospitals will use an electronic medical record PubMed Central. This allows for significant improvements.
In doing so, telemedicine can bring the expertise of specialists to rural areas without requiring patients to travel. For instance, doctors working in central hospitals can consult on difficult cases, review test results, etc.
Nevertheless, the health care system largely still relies on manual and paper-based systems of information reporting. In fact, the lack of digitalization makes the health care system less agile and provides poor insights into health care outcomes, health care resources, and health care requirements. Completing the shift towards digital medical records would yield substantial benefits for health care.
Online appointment booking, test result receipt, and prescription renewals may reduce unnecessary visits to the facilities. Mobile health applications may assist in the management of chronic illnesses through medication reminders and symptom tracking.
Better Workforce Distribution
The lack of medical professionals impacts the quality of medical care, especially in rural areas. Training more medical personnel is just half of the solution. The other half of the solution lies in retaining medical staff in these areas. It involves understanding what drives them away.
The interest is greater when focused on the spirit and attitude of service. Dedication, friendliness, politeness, respect for patients, etc., are areas where the health care industry has the opportunity to enhance its performance, even under difficult circumstances of infrastructure. Healthy workers are better for better patients.
It has also been suggested that rural practice be made mandatory for young graduates, with consequent forgiveness of debts or other incentives, to offset the current shortage of good rural practitioners. Long-term solutions must include making rural practice professionally fulfilling by providing training and equipping rural practitioners with the necessary equipment to perform well.
Focusing on Prevention
There is an emerging problem of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer in Vietnam. The present health service delivery system in Vietnam is hospital-based and episodic, concentrating on curative care only. Such a system is not only inefficient but also inappropriate for the long-term management of care in a person-centered manner.
Better development of prevention services and health promotion is another measure to reduce incidents of diseases. These are community health services to reduce disease incidence from tobacco, diet, and physical activities. Early detection of diseases through screening measures makes treatment more effective and cost-efficient.
Enhancing Quality Standards
Humans require healthcare facilities that provide a minimum level of comfort, particularly in terms of cleanliness and tidiness. Expenses for medical examination and treatment should be reasonable and easy to understand, and health insurance benefits should be ensured and promptly provided.
Development of quality standards and measurement of quality regularly will help in identifying areas that require attention. Providing information on quality performance to the public increases the accountability of the healthcare system and aids patients in making selections too. Linking payments with quality performance provides incentives too.
The Path Forward
Implementing these suggestions on improving the healthcare system in Vietnam can be improved requires commitment and sufficient resources. In the year 2026, “Putting the patient at the center, quality as the foundation, and efficiency as the goal,” the healthcare system would further enhance the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the patients.
The above recommendations, which include building capacity in primary care, speeding up digitalization, modifying financing, improving workforce distribution, focusing on prevention, and improving quality, offer a roadmap forward. These care areas contribute to building a more accessible, efficient, and patient-centered system.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the biggest problem with Vietnam's healthcare system?
Hospital overcrowding is the most apparent of these problems, with larger centers operating at double their capacity. This is a result of the lack of a strong primary health system, which does not retain patients at the foundation level, prompting them to bypass health centers and facility services and opt for distant hospital services instead. Primarily, the problems are the lack of equipment at the grass-roots level, unequal staffing of facilities concentrated in urban areas, and the lack of trust in the quality of services offered at health centers.
How can technology improve healthcare access in rural Vietnam?
It would allow specialist doctors at central hospitals to consult on tricky cases without requiring patients to travel. There would be electronic records to enable different hospitals to access patient histories, thus preventing duplication of tests. eHealth apps would assist in the management of chronic conditions through medication reminders and other symptom monitoring. Appointments would be scheduled online, reducing waiting periods. For this to work, there would have to be reliable internet connectivity, trained staff, and patient awareness of technology usage.
Why do Vietnamese people seek medical treatment abroad?
Many Vietnamese people spend billions of dollars every year traveling abroad for medical services since the high-quality services for complex conditions are not widely available domestically, especially advanced cancer treatment, organ transplantation, and specialized surgery. Major public hospitals are overcrowded, and equipment is outdated; meanwhile, private facilities that meet international standards remain expensive and concentrated in large cities. Patients look for more comfort in a stay in the hospital, faster waiting times, or access to treatments not available in Vietnam.
What reforms would have the biggest impact on healthcare quality?
Investment in equipment, training, and staff at district and commune facilities would achieve the most systemwide benefits from strengthening primary care. Finishing digital transformation through universal electronic health records allows for better coordination. Payment systems reform rewards for quality outcomes rather than volume of service. Expanding preventive care programs allows more efficient handling of the rising burden of chronic diseases compared to episodic treatment. Lastly, better compensation improves rural healthcare workforce distribution in order to maintain availability throughout the country.
