VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) decision that intermediate school graduates will not be employed by hospitals and healthcare throughout the country has raised controversy.


From 2021, healthcare centers in Vietnam will not admit nurses, pharmacists, midwives and hospital orderlies who finish intermediate schools (2 year training). Medical workers must finish junior college (3-year training) at least to be employed. And from 2025, medical workers who undergo 2-year training will no longer exist in Vietnam.

In order to implement the plan, medical intermediate schools will stop enrolling students from 2018. 

With the decision, MOH has warned about the closure of medical intermediate schools.

Le Quang Hoanh, former president of the Thai Binh Medical University, applauding the decision, said MOH had made the right decision.

“It is necessary to upgrade the qualification of medical workers in international integration,” Hoanh said, adding that in other ASEAN countries, medical workers finish junior colleges or have higher education level.

The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) decision that intermediate school graduates will not be employed by hospitals and healthcare throughout the country has raised controversy.

Hoanh said he was worried about the material facilities and training quality of medical intermediate schools in Vietnam.

“With such conditions, they cannot meet the training requirements. School campuses, laboratories instruments are leased, while lecturers are ‘borrowed’ from other schools,” he said. “Meanwhile, many lecturers are retired medical workers who do not know updated with new technologies."

Also according to Hoanh, medical intermediate schools produce tens of thousands of graduates every year. However, as the training quality is low, many graduates remain unemployed. 

Therefore, MOH has made a correct decision to require medical workers to have higher education levels. However, it needs to set up a reasonable roadmap for the personnel upgrading, so that medical workers and schools have enough time to prepare to adapt to the new circumstances.

Meanwhile, some analysts have warned that the decision would cause shocks to hundreds of thousands of intermediate schools.

“Students spent time and money to study at intermediate schools, hoping that they will get jobs after the graduation. But MOH has announced it will not accept them,” said Nguyen Van Lon, former president of the Thai Binh Medical University.

“What will happen with the students who study at intermediate schools prior to 2018, the time when the medical training at intermediate schools stops?” he said, emphasizing that medical workers finishing intermediate schools must be given opportunities to continue studying to upgrade their qualifications. 

Vice Principal of Pasteur Medical Intermediate School Le Hong Khanh commented that MOH needs to think carefully about the issue. 

“I understand that MOH wants to upgrade the quality of medical workers. However, it is necessary to consider the issue thoroughly,” Khanh commented.

Many students at pharmacy intermediate school now are not planning to look for jobs at healthcare centers, but work at privately run drugstores.


Infonet