Vietnam
VN
Healthcare System
Vietnam's healthcare system is organized around BHYT (Bảo hiểm Y tế — Social Health Insurance), which covers approximately 90% of the population as of 2024. The system is administered by VSS (Vietnam Social Security — Bảo hiểm Xã hội Việt Nam). The MOH (Ministry of Health — Bộ Y tế) manages the public hospital network across three levels: district (tuyến huyện), provincial (tuyến tỉnh), and central (tuyến trung ương). A rapidly growing private sector has emerged, with Vinmec International Hospitals, FV Hospital (Ho Chi Minh City, French-Vietnamese), Thu Cuc International Hospital, and HAGL BMHMC catering to urban middle class and international patients. Traditional Vietnamese medicine (Thuốc đông y / Y học cổ truyền) is officially integrated into the healthcare system alongside Western medicine.
- System Type
- Universal mandatory social health insurance (BHYT) with multi-tier public hospital system
- Regulatory Body
- MOH (Bộ Y tế — Ministry of Health) — overall health policy, hospital licensing, drug policy. DAV (Cục Quản lý Dược — Drug Administration of Vietnam) — under MOH, drug registration, pharmacovigilance. VSS (Bảo hiểm Xã hội Việt Nam — Vietnam Social Security) — BHYT administration. Vietnam Pharmaceutical Companies Association (VNPCA). MOH Inspectorate (Thanh tra Bộ Y tế) — enforcement.
- Data Protection
- Law on Cybersecurity 2018 (Luật An ninh mạng). Decree 13/2023/ND-CP on personal data protection (PDPD — Vietnam's first standalone data protection regulation, effective July 2023) — aligns with some GDPR principles but enforced by Ministry of Public Security (Bộ Công an). Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 governs patient health data access.
- Currency
- VND
- Emergency Number
- 115 (cấp cứu — ambulance), 113 (cảnh sát — police), 114 (cứu hỏa — fire)
- Languages
- vi
Coding Systems
diagnosis
ICD-10 (WHO edition, Vietnamese translation)
ICD-10 WHO standard edition, with official Vietnamese language translation published by MOH (Bộ Y tế). MOH Circular 01/2020/TT-BYT and subsequent regulations mandate ICD-10 for all BHYT claims and hospital statistics. Vietnamese ICD-10 uses the same alphanumeric codes as WHO ICD-10; description translations are in Vietnamese. Tropical and endemic disease codes commonly used: dengue fever (A90-A91), typhoid (A01), hand-foot-mouth disease (B08.4), hepatitis B (B16-B18), tuberculosis (A15-A19). Traditional medicine diagnoses recorded separately under traditional medicine classification or as Y95.x codes.
dental
FDI (ISO 3950)
FDI two-digit notation standard used throughout Vietnamese dental practice — both public (bệnh viện răng hàm mặt) and private. National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology (Bệnh viện Răng Hàm Mặt Trung ương). No independent Vietnamese dental coding system.
procedures
BHYT procedure catalogue (danh mục dịch vụ kỹ thuật y tế)
MOH maintains the Danh mục dịch vụ kỹ thuật y tế (List of Medical Technical Services) under Circular 43/2013/TT-BYT and subsequent updates — used for BHYT pricing and reimbursement. Procedures listed with Vietnamese name, code reference, and price bands by hospital level. Not internationally standardized (not CPT/OPCS). International patients at private hospitals may be quoted in CPT-equivalent terms for insurer communication. Traditional medicine procedures listed separately.
drugs
DAV registration number / ATC classification
DAV (Drug Administration of Vietnam — Cục Quản lý Dược, under MOH) registers all pharmaceutical products. Registration number (số đăng ký) required on all drug labels. ATC (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical) classification used in formulary management and pharmacovigilance. Essential medicine list (Danh mục thuốc thiết yếu) published by MOH; covered drugs under BHYT listed in Circular 30/2018/TT-BYT and updates. Generic drug names (INN) used in public sector; brand names (tên thương mại) in private sector.
Translation Corridors
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