Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Vietnam’s private healthcare sector should focus on quality, advanced medical techniques and innovation rather than expanding the number of hospitals, while strengthening research, digital transformation, and social responsibility, heard a forum in Ho Chi Minh City on August 20.
Speaking at the second edition of the Forum on Vietnam Private Healthcare Development 2026, organised by the Vietnam Private Hospitals Association (VPHA), its Chairman Nguyen Van De said Vietnam now has nearly 450 private hospitals, more than 50,000 private clinics and tens of thousands of doctors and technicians working in the private healthcare sector.
Over the years, private healthcare providers have helped ease pressure on the public health system, brought advanced techniques and modern technologies closer to patients, created jobs, and contributed to the State budget. They have also helped promote Vietnamese healthcare services in the region and attracted international patients.
However, De noted that mechanisms and policies for private healthcare remain insufficiently synchronised, while access to land, capital and other development resources remains difficult. The shortage of high-quality human resources is another major challenge.
He cited the Politburo's Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW dated May 4, 2025, on private economic development and Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025, on breakthrough measures to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people’s health of the Political Bureau as important policy foundations for the private healthcare sector to make greater contributions to the national health system.
Against this backdrop, the forum took the theme of “Building institutions – Improving quality – Promoting sustainable development for people’s health.” These are also the three pillars pursued by Vietnam’s private healthcare community in the new period.
Addressing the forum, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen stressed that Vietnam’s healthcare system is a unified whole comprising both public and non-public sectors. The two sectors should not be viewed as separate or competing entities, but as complementary components working toward the common goal of protecting and improving people’s health.
Resolution No. 72 calls for mobilising social resources for healthcare and promoting private healthcare, including encouraging the development of large-scale private hospitals offering advanced, high-quality and internationally comparable services. It also calls for greater private-sector participation in preventing diseases, promoting scientific research, training human resources, and producing medicines and medical equipment.
Tuyen said private healthcare providers should pursue a new development model, shifting away from building hundreds of small hospitals toward investment in specialised medical techniques and modern equipment to better meet growing demand for healthcare services.
The private medical sector should also step up scientific research, technology development, digital transformation, and innovation, linking with social responsibility, he added.
The two-day forum features high-level policy discussions and dialogues between State management agencies and the business community, as well as international experiences from Malaysia, China, and other partners.
Discussions focus on key issues including healthcare quality management, human resource development, and risk management in private healthcare investment. Policy recommendations and commitments for action are also being put forward to help shape the sustainable, humane and modern development of Vietnam’s private healthcare sector./.
