Unlike the Pedagogy industry - which is not a priority choice and needs to waive tuition fees to attract talent - Medicine has long been an attractive field, with great appeal to candidates.
The benchmark scores of medical schools in recent years have always been among the highest, ranging from 24-29 points for General Medicine and Pharmacy. This shows that the medical industry does not lack talented candidates, regardless of whether tuition fees are exempted or not.
Every year, the number of candidates applying for admission to the medical field remains stable. This is a clear demonstration of the special attraction of this field. Therefore, exempting tuition fees is not the decisive factor for the medical field to attract more talent.
It is undeniable that the tuition fee for the medical industry is currently very high, ranging from 40-250 million/year depending on the industry, school, and program.
In fact, the tuition support policy for the medical profession has been applied before, but is limited to few majors such as pathology, forensic examination, psychiatry, infectious diseases and emergency resuscitation (according to the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2009 and 2023).
However, if the medical profession is also supported by the State with tuition fees like the teaching profession, and who knows, in the future many other professions will also "study" the medical profession - it will lead to inequality in vocational training, causing great pressure on the State budget.
Health care is of course important, but that does not mean that other professions in society are not important and do not need to be prioritized in terms of training.
The best solution is that the State should maintain and expand scholarship policies for students in difficult circumstances or with excellent achievements.
Currently, only the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies provides loans to orphaned students, those from poor or near-poor households, or those facing financial difficulties due to natural disasters or health problems, with a loan amount of VND4 million/month.
Meanwhile, joint stock commercial banks have not yet participated in this special market because there is no specific policy mechanism.
The proposal to support tuition fees for medical students may receive consensus from the people but is not necessarily good and optimal.
Instead of focusing on exempting tuition fees, the Ministry of Health needs to focus on improving the working environment and benefits for health workers after graduation.
One reason why health workers, especially doctors and nurses, do not want to work in public hospitals is due to high work pressure, low salary and lack of development opportunities.
Investing in healthcare infrastructure, increasing salaries and improving working conditions will help the healthcare industry attract and retain talent more effectively, not only solving immediate problems but also creating sustainable development.
