In brief

On 9 January 2023, the National Assembly of Vietnam issued Law No. 15/2023/QH15 on Medical Examination and Treatment (“New Law“), which sets out a significant number of new regulations on healthcare and medical activities. The New Law will take effect on 1 January 2024, replacing the current Law No. 40/2009/QH12 on Medical Examination and Treatment dated 23 November 2009.

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Key takeaways

The New Law provides some new key regulations as set out below:

1. New regulations on forms of medical examination and treatment and support of telemedicine, i.e.,: (i) telemedicine between practitioners and patients; and (ii) telemedicine among medical examination and treatment establishments
2. New requirement to use Vietnamese language during medical examination and treatment
3. New regulation on the validity of medical practice license
4. New requirement to self-assess the quality of medical examination and treatment according to the set of basic quality standards promulgated by the Ministry of Health on an annual basis

In depth

1. Forms of medical examination and treatment and support of telemedicine

According to the New Law, practitioners are allowed to perform: (i) telemedicine between practitioners and patients; and (ii) telemedicine among medical examination and treatment establishments.¹

i. Telemedicine between practitioners and patients

Telemedicine between practitioners and patients must comply with the practitioner’s scope of practice and the list of diseases and conditions as promulgated by the Minister of Health.

The practitioners shall be responsible for results of their diagnosis, decisions of treatment methods and prescription of drugs.

ii. Telemedicine among medical examination and treatment establishments

According to this form of telemedicine, practitioners who directly perform medical examination and treatment at the supported establishments must take responsibility for their medical examination and treatment results. Such supported establishments must pay the telemedicine expenses to the supporting establishment as agreed among these establishments.

2. New requirement to use Vietnamese language during medical examination and treatment

The New Law stipulates that the language used in medical examination and treatment must be Vietnamese, except where the practitioner who is a foreigner or an overseas Vietnamese (“Foreign Practitioner“) may use non-Vietnamese language for medical examination and treatment under the following circumstances:²

1. The patient has the same native language as the practitioner’s or the patient is able to use the same language as the registered one of the practitioner.
2. The patient is a foreigner and does not fall under the case specified in point (i) above.
3. The humanitarian medical examination and treatment is organized in specified cases or involves transfer of professional and technical expertise in healthcare under cooperation agreements between Vietnamese medical establishments and foreign medical establishments.

From the above regulations, it can be seen that foreign doctors/practitioners who carry out long-term practice in Vietnam and provide medical examination and treatment for Vietnamese people must use Vietnamese fluently in medical examination and treatment, except for some cases of treating non-Vietnamese-speaking patients, cooperation in exchanging expertise, technical transfer and training.

This new regulation will replace the current Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, which allows foreign doctors to use non-Vietnamese when providing medical examination and treatment for Vietnamese people, provided that there is an interpreter.³ However, such regulation under the current Law on Medical Examination and Treatment is only allowed to be applied until 31 December 2031.⁴

3. New regulation on the validity of medical practice license

The New Law changes the name of the medical practice certificate (in Vietnamese: Chứng chỉ hành nghề khám bệnh, chữa bệnh) to medical practice license (in Vietnamese: Giấy phép hành nghề khám, chữa bệnh). In general, the content of the medical practice license remains unchanged compared to that of medical practice certificate, except that a medical practice license is valid for five years⁵ while a medical practice certificate does not have an expiration. In addition, medical practice certificates issued before 1 January 2024 will be converted to medical practice licenses and must be renewed every five years from the date of conversion.⁶

4. New requirement to self-assess the quality of medical examination and treatment

In order to improve the quality of service of medical examination and treatment establishments, the New Law adds regulations that require establishments to self-assess annually the quality of medical examination and treatment according to a set of basic quality standards set by the Ministry of Health. Establishments must also update the results of the self-assessment on the information system to serve as basis for examination and evaluation as well as public information about the quality level of medical examination and treatment facilities.⁷

The full Vietnamese text of the New Law can be found here.

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¹ Article 80, New Law.

² Article 21, New Law.

³ Article 23, the current Law No. 40/2009/QH12 on Medical Examination and Treatment dated 23 November 2009.

⁴ Article 121.4, New Law.

⁵ Article 27, New Law.

⁶ Article 121.1, New Law.

⁷ Article 58, New Law.