Deputy PM calls for better preventive health care services

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam urged medical facilities nationwide to step up preventive health care services and ensure adequate vaccines to prevent the spread of epidemics such as measles and dengue fever.
Deputy PM calls for better preventive health care services ảnh 1Illustrative image (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam urged medical facilitiesnationwide to step up preventive health care services and ensure adequatevaccines to prevent the spread of epidemics such as measles and dengue fever.

Localities should allocate more money to reach the target of spending 30 percentof health care service’s national budget on preventive medicine, he said at aworking session with medical agencies on March 21.

He also urged medical centre to play an active role in applying technology tomodernise healthcare records and medical check-ups to reduce waiting times.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said technology application is thebiggest challenge the sector needs to address. The ministry will step uptechnology application in the future to connect medicine supplying facilitiesand launch electronic personal health records.

In the past, local hospitals applied new advanced techniques including tissuetransplants, and successful lung transplants. The ministry has made efforts toimprove health care service and change health care workers’ attitudes towardspatients, heard the meeting.

Tien said hospital overcrowding can be solved by investing in health careservices at local medical facilities to meet patients’ demand while centralhospitals must focus on developing techniques and quality healthcare to stoppeople travelling abroad for treatment.

However, the Deputy PM pointed out shortcomings at central and local facilitiesthat make the services unable to meet expectations such as poor infrastructure,lack of medical equipment or healthcare workers of low capacity.

To address these shortcomings, he requested the health care sector to improvetheir capacity by making medicine quality better, especially medicine used totreat non-infectious diseases.

Dam praised the health ministry for its efforts to hold national centralisedbidding which helps reduce medicine prices and asked the sector to bring coststo same levels as Malaysia, the country with the lowest prices in ASEAN.

He asked healthcare sector to connect pharmacies to ensure medicinedistribution and preservation. “The medicine quality will not be ensured unlessit is well preserved and transported,” he said.

It aims to better manage prescriptions and selling prescribed medicine, lookingforward to a future of having 100 percent of antibiotics sold withprescriptions by 2020.

Health care insurance costs should be adjusted in accordance with people’sincome and must be relevant with service quality. The health ministry mustincrease the health care coverage for students as well, he said.-VNA
VNA

See more

An ambulance from the pre-hospital emergency care service in Phu Quoc special zone in An Giang province. (Photo: VNA)

Pre-hospital emergency care system to be launched nationwide

From 2027, the national pre-hospital emergency management platform will be put into operation, connecting data with the 113, 114 and 115 emergency call systems to facilitate rapid emergency dispatch and improve public access to emergency services.

Foreign patients travel to Vietnam for robotic cancer surgery at one-tenth of US costs

Foreign patients travel to Vietnam for robotic cancer surgery at one-tenth of US costs

With robot-assisted surgery costing tens of thousands of dollars in the US and Singapore, a growing number of international patients are traveling to Vietnam for robotic cancer surgery, including procedures for prostate, gynecological and gastrointestinal cancers, using the US made da Vinci Xi system at costs starting from just 3,000 USD.

Under a phased rollout beginning in 2026, every resident in Ho Chi Minh City will receive at least one annual health check-up or health screening. (Photo: VNA)

Ho Chi Minh City develops integrated multi-tier healthcare system

Under the new model, healthcare is organised into interconnected levels based on people's needs rather than administrative boundaries. Patients can move seamlessly between levels while their electronic health records and treatment information remain connected through digital platforms, referral systems, telemedicine, electronic medical records, and integrated health databases.

Doctors conduct heart and lung examinations for workers. (Photo: VNA)

Draft policy encourages people to prepare for old age from middle age

A draft circular guiding the implementation of the National Target Programme on Health Care, Population and Development (2026-2035) marks a shift from focusing solely on elderly care to encouraging healthy and independent ageing through early preparation. It covers healthy lifestyles, regular health check-ups, financial planning, suitable employment and home-based elderly care skills.

The meeting between the Vietnam Military Medical University delegation and leaders of the Lao Ministry of National Defence in Vientiane (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam, Laos deepen military medical cooperation

Since 1954, Vietnam Military Medical University has trained 687 Lao military medical personnel, including 322 doctors, 67 master's degree holders, 10 doctorate holders, and dozens of specialist physicians, alongside hundreds of pharmacists and medical technicians.

Vietnam's first penis transplant from a brain-dead donor is successfully performed at Viet Duc University Hospital. (Photo published by VNA)

Vietnam reaches new milestone in reconstructive transplant surgery

As the first operation of its kind in Vietnam, the hospital spent months developing treatment protocols, studying international experience and assembling a multidisciplinary team that included experts in transplantation, andrology, microsurgery, anaesthesia, immunology and pathology.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan is performing brain surgery on a patient (Photo published by VNA)

National strategy aims to build advanced medical ecosystem

Vietnam's adjusted healthcare network master plan for 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050, also outlines a regional structure covering the country's six socio-economic regions. It envisages 17 provincial general hospitals serving regional functions, at least one highly specialised hospital in each region, and at least one advanced medical facility in every province and city.