Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has urged the government to introduce policies and incentives to attract and retain healthcare professionals, including tuition support and living expense subsidies during training, similar to policies in the education sector.
The health ministry made the proposal at the 2025 national health sector review conference in Hanoi on December 24 as the health sector is facing shortages in both quantity and quality of personnel, with imbalances in workforce distribution and professional specialization.
The health ministry pointed out that Vietnam’s healthcare workforce has grown by only 2.33% over the past decade. The current total of 431,724 healthcare workers falls significantly short of the target of 632,510 outlined in the 2011-2020 national healthcare human resources development plan.
Vietnam currently has 214 medical training institutions, including 66 universities, 139 vocational schools, and nine research institutes offering doctoral programs. (Suc Khoe Doi Song)