From 15 resident doctors to the need to train hundreds of people
On the afternoon of September 9, at Match Day 2026 - Registration Day for resident doctor training major course 51 (2026-2029), Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu - Rector of Hanoi Medical University - spent most of his speech sharing about the resident doctor training process, the reasons for expanding the scale as well as the value that creates the attraction of this program.
According to the Rector of Hanoi Medical University, the 51st resident doctor major registration exam received unprecedented great attention.
Explaining the scale of resident doctor training today, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu looked back at his own course. "My course is the 17th resident course, there are only 15 resident doctors" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu said.
According to him, the human resource needs of the health sector and hospitals today have changed very much compared to the previous period. This is one of the reasons why Hanoi Medical University decided to expand the scale of resident doctor training.
The school's principal believes that if only about 15 resident doctors are trained each year as before, it will be difficult to meet the human resource needs for many majors and hospitals. Currently, Hanoi Medical University has more than 40 majors.
Expanding the scale, according to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu, also puts greater pressure on the teaching staff because the school must simultaneously ensure quality, brand and responsibility to resident doctors.
He emphasized that this is not simply a story of increasing the number of training but also stems from "urgent needs, very large social needs" and the responsibility of Hanoi Medical University to the health and social sectors.
Why was Match Day chosen?
One of the issues that received much attention was the method of registering for a major at Match Day.
According to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu, in more than 50 years of training resident doctors, Hanoi Medical University has experienced many different ways of selecting majors.
There was a period when only valedictorians were allowed to choose majors, and the remaining candidates were assigned by the school. After that, the school applied specialized registration from the beginning, before knowing the exam results.
This approach reveals inadequacies when good students can register for the same major, leading to some people not being admitted to resident doctors; while some other majors do not recruit enough people.
The school also organized post-exam interviews. However, this method was not allowed to continue afterwards.
From that reality, when the training scale increases, the school seeks a method of specialized registration that ensures objectivity, fairness, transparency and publicity.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu emphasized that Match Day is not simply a "festival" but the final stage of the resident doctor recruitment process.
Those with high scores choose first, those with low scores choose later, and when they run out, they have to bear it. All targets are filled from top to bottom. Fair, public, very public" - he said.
According to the Rector of Hanoi Medical University, with the current method, the difference of 0.01 points also determines the candidate's position and there is no intervention in the order of selection.
Up to this moment, I can affirm that this is the best way to ensure the most important requirements of an entrance exam, which here is the entrance exam for resident doctors of Hanoi Medical University" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu said.
However, he also noted that there is no perfect method. In the future, when the specialized training model changes, the scale of resident doctor training, exam form and method of specialized registration may also be considered for adjustment.
The appeal of resident doctors comes from many generations
Before the special attention of public opinion for this year's Match Day, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu said that this is something to be proud of.
That pride is brought about by many generations of resident doctors of Hanoi Medical University," he said.
According to the school principal, the important thing for new students from this time is to continue to study and train to be worthy of the brand built by previous generations of resident doctors.
He also especially noted that the ranking at the entrance exam does not determine whether a person becomes an excellent resident doctor later or not. The next three years of training are the time for those with high rankings to continue to assert themselves, and also an opportunity for those with lower rankings or who have not yet chosen the major they want to prove their ability.
Even after graduating with honors in residency, that journey is not over yet. A doctor needs to continue working and studying for the next 10 or 20 years to develop his career.
Students, please maintain your bravery and study spirit like that, and don't stop at any point. Because the resident of Hanoi Medical University must be like that, the resident doctor of Hanoi Medical University is as brave as that" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Tu advised.
