The Ministry of Health is drafting a Decree regulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Health. Currently, the draft dossier has been appraised by the Ministry of Justice, including the Government submission, the draft Decree and related documents.
According to the draft content, the Ministry of Health proposes to maintain the existing system of Departments and Agencies along with two public non-business units, the Institute of Strategy and Health Policy and Health and Life Newspaper. At the same time, the Ministry also proposes to abolish the Ministry Inspectorate organization according to the provisions of the 2025 Inspection Law.
Notably, the Ministry of Health proposed to reorganize the Department of Health Insurance into the Department of Health Insurance and transfer the National Health Information Center to the Department of Information Technology and Digital Transformation.
According to the Ministry of Health, the Health Insurance Department currently undertakes the function of advising and assisting the Minister in state management in the field of health insurance. This unit is assigned 9 groups of specialized tasks along with many new tasks such as building and amending legal documents; developing strategies and plans for health insurance development; proposing solutions to improve the capacity of health insurance medical examination and treatment for grassroots health care and ensure the balance of the health insurance fund.
The Ministry of Health believes that the workload is increasing, especially in the context of implementing the policies of the Politburo and the Secretariat on social security in the health sector, making the upgrading of the Health Insurance Department to a Department necessary to meet management and administration requirements.
Regarding the National Health Information Center, the Ministry of Health said that before November 2022, this unit used to operate under the model of the Department of Information Technology. Currently, state management of information technology and digital transformation in the health sector is assigned to the Department of Science and Technology and Training, while implementation is undertaken by the National Health Information Center. This separation leads to many difficulties and overlaps in the process of performing tasks.
Therefore, the Ministry of Health proposes to establish the Department of Information Technology and Digital Transformation to unify the focal point for managing, directing and implementing tasks related to digital transformation throughout the health sector.
The Ministry of Health believes that the establishment of two Department-level units, including the Health Insurance Department and the Department of Information Technology and Digital Transformation, is in accordance with the criteria stipulated in Decree No. 303/2025 of the Government.
According to the draft, the organizational structure of the Ministry of Health will include 19 units, including Departments, Ministry Offices, specialized Departments and two public non-business units: the Institute of Strategy and Health Policy and Health and Life Newspaper.
Among the Departments directly under the Ministry, the Department of Planning and Finance alone is proposed to have 3 functional departments. Departments and Bureaus will continue to perform state management functions, while public non-business units serve research, communication and policy advice for the health sector.
After the Decree is promulgated, the Minister of Health will submit to the Prime Minister for approval the list of other public non-business units directly under the Ministry according to current regulations.
