VietNamNet Bridge – Last year as many as 40,000 Vietnamese people went abroad for medical treatment and spent around $1 billion, according to statistics of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham).

This trend clearly shows the necessity of fully meeting healthcare needs of people in Vietnam, through the improvement of hospital quality, recruitment of qualified medical staff and replacement of outdated medical equipment.

It is forecast that the market of medical equipment in Vietnam will continue to grow and reach $1.4 billion by 2018. This is an important market for European businesses because Vietnam imports more than 90% of medical equipment.

In early 2016, the Ministry of Health also reported that some $2 billion was spent last year on heart and cancer treatments and cosmetic surgery in foreign countries such as Singapore, China, South Korea, the US, France, and Thailand.

Overloading at local hospitals is believed to be the main reason seeking treatment elsewhere. There are more than 13,000 medical centers in Vietnam, including 1,166 public hospitals and 102 private hospital, with nearly 300,000 beds, according to the latest figures from the General Statistics Office.

Hospitals in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are usually working at 120 per cent capacity, with patients sharing beds.

The overload also results in poor service, complex administrative procedures, and less capable doctors, which make Vietnamese patients prefer to head overseas if they can afford it.

According to Dr. Joel Leroy, a famous French laparoscopic expert who visited Hanoi to share endoscopy techniques, if the amount of money Vietnamese spent abroad was invested in technical development and medical infrastructure at home it would be sufficient for introducing many types of new medical technology.

He added that many Vietnamese doctors use such techniques to the same standard as their foreign counterparts.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said that Vietnam has highly-skilled doctors who were capable of handling tough cases and many hospitals meet international standards. However, due to a lack of policies, confidence among patients in local hospitals remains low.

Vietnamese doctors have developed new treatment techniques and made significant progress. Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that comprehensive reforms have been conducted to improve ethics among doctors and health workers.

Compiled by Le Ha