The draft Circular of the Ministry of Health proposes many new regulations on postgraduate training in the field of health, from admission conditions, programs, tuition fees to diplomas. Notably, specialized agencies propose to study changing the current model of training specialist doctors I and II.
Regulations on diplomas and training institutions
According to the draft, resident doctor and specialist doctor diplomas are diplomas from postgraduate specialist training programs in the field of health, belonging to the national education system.
The issuance and management of diplomas is carried out according to Circular 10/2026/TT-BGDĐT dated February 26, 2026 of the Ministry of Education and Training. Training institutions are responsible for printing, managing and issuing diploma blanks; before printing, they must report the blank sample to the Ministry of Health.
The draft also stipulates basic standards and training programs according to the standards of the Ministry of Health. Facilities that have been assigned to train resident doctors, specialists I and II continue to organize training according to new regulations. Facilities that have not been assigned tasks are only trained when they meet the requirements for faculty, facilities and related standards.
Tuition fees, scholarships according to regulations
Tuition fees are implemented according to the regulations of the State and educational institutions. Majors supported by the State for tuition fees are implemented according to the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment.
Foreigners pay tuition fees according to the level prescribed by the training institution or according to agreements and cooperation agreements. Medical human resource institutions can decide to pay or support tuition fees for recruited and admitted people.
Scholarships are decided by the head of the training institution according to internal spending regulations. Students can also be paid remuneration by the training institution from legal revenue sources of the unit.
Conditions for applying for resident doctors, specialists
For resident doctors, applicants must have a doctoral degree in medicine, traditional medicine or dentistry and be within 12 months from the date of graduation recognition or temporary graduation certificate to the expiration date of application submission. Each person is only allowed to take the exam once.
People with degrees issued by foreign educational institutions are also eligible to apply if they are recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training as having a suitable university level.
For the specialist doctor program, applicants must have a doctoral degree in medicine, traditional medicine, dentistry or preventive medicine; and must also have a valid practicing license for medical examination and treatment.
In addition to the requirements for diplomas, graduation time and scope of practice, candidates must meet the professional standards of the program. Training institutions may stipulate more about records, health, ethical qualities and evaluation criteria, but not lower than the standards of the Ministry of Health.
Towards unifying the boarding training model
According to the Department of Science, Technology and Training, Vietnam currently has parallel training for resident doctors and specialist doctors but has not reached a consensus on the model.
Meanwhile, in many countries such as the US, UK, and Australia, inpatient training is considered a form of specialized training for excellent medical students.
From this reality, specialized agencies propose to unify the model of resident doctor training in the direction that this is a specialized program for excellent students, and also a training channel for leading experts in the field. Specialist doctor training will be for doctors who have practiced before studying in depth.
The Department of Science, Technology and Training proposes to study reforming the system of specialist doctoral degrees I and II.
According to this agency, dividing into two levels is not really suitable for the scope of practice and the depth of each specialty. International experience shows that many countries organize training according to basic specialty (Basic) and deep specialty or sub-specialty stages, instead of issuing separate specialty degrees I and II.
On that basis, the Ministry of Health proposes to study replacing the two-level model with a specialized training program with flexible time according to each major.
Along with that, the training program, job position and professional scope will be reviewed to re-determine the requirements for capacity, content and training time, instead of applying 2-3 years uniformly to all majors.
These proposals aim to unify the postgraduate training system in the field of health, improve the quality of specialist doctor training and better meet the needs of specialized medical human resources.
