Vietanm Healthcare Network
Before the 19th century, identified as Oriental traditional medicine,
Vietnam's medicine used mainly herbs. At the end of the 19th century,
as Vietnam became a colony of the French, Western medicine
was introduced to Vietnam. At that time, clinics could only be found
in big cities, while in rural areas, traditional medicine remained the
key way of treatment.
When the Democratic Republic of Vietnam came into beings in
September 1945, a healthcare system started to be built. The
Medical University was established right at the Viet Bac war zone in
1949. Even during that early stage, the Medical University,
Research Institute and hospitals had managed to produce some
basic medications such as Penicillin and malaria medicine. After the
reunification in April 1975, the healthcare sector started to develop
rapidly with renowned doctors and numerous achievements that
have earned international recognition.
At present, the public system plays the leading role in healthcare
and is divided into 3 levels: Central, provincial and local (including
district, commune and hamlet).
In addition to the public healthcare system, Vietnam has also
developed a private healthcare network. There are now 30,000 private
clinics and 36 private hospitals with 2,538 beds (equals to 2%
of the hospital beds nationwide) of which there are 4 foreigninvested
hospitals.