On April 17, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Health organized a workshop to solicit opinions on the Project on developing an out-of-hospital emergency system for the period 2026-2030 and vision to 2035. This is the third workshop held in Hanoi to solicit broad opinions from ministries, branches, localities, units and leading experts on emergency care to build a modern, feasible, and suitable out-of-hospital emergency system for Vietnamese conditions.
At the workshop, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Pham Huu Phuc - Deputy Chief of the Ministry of Public Security Office - said: Ministries and sectors are developing a project to integrate three emergency switchboards 113, 114, 115 into a single 113 prefix for general emergency, security, and rescue calls nationwide.
Up to now, the above numbers, also known as switchboards, are applied separately for each task. Switchboard 115 is used for emergency calls. Switchboard 114 is used to call for fire and rescue needs. Switchboard 113 receives calls that need security support. Unifying these tasks into one unified number helps people easily communicate when support is needed, and functional agencies also easily operate.
According to the roadmap, when integrated, the 113 call will be routed to the command center, then transferred to functional units in the locality. The system is designed with a multi-layered backup mechanism, ensuring continuous operation 24/7.
For cases requiring medical emergency care, AI-applied operators will quickly transfer information to appropriate emergency facilities.
The unification of the 113 prefix is expected to help people easily remember, shorten reaction time and improve the efficiency of handling emergency situations nationwide," Mr. Phuc said.
According to the proposal of the Ministry of Public Security, the process of implementing the integration of these prefixes will be implemented in two phases. Phase one, integrate the prefixes 113, 114, 115 into a single prefix 113 for use nationwide and place them at the Command Information Center of 34 provinces and cities.
Phase two, after deploying the 113 prefix model at the Command Information Center of 34 provinces and cities from 6 months to one year, a preliminary review and evaluation will be organized to calculate the construction of the National 113 Center model.
Phase two is expected to be able to study the integration of both prefixes 111 and 117 according to the opinion of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
At the conference, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said that out-of-hospital emergency care is the opening link of the life-saving chain for patients, a place where every minute, every decision and every coordination can create a difference between life and sequelae, between recovery opportunities and irreparable losses.
Therefore, developing an extra-hospital emergency system is a professional requirement, humane, and a measure of the organizational capacity of the health sector and the entire system of people's health protection.
Each year Vietnam records about 222,000 stroke cases, but most patients have not been given timely emergency care. Only about 23.2% of patients arrive at medical facilities in the first "golden time" of 4.5 hours, and about 20% are transported by professional emergency systems.
Not only strokes, emergency situations such as traffic accidents, drowning, fires, explosions, poisoning or natural disasters all require the extrahospital emergency system to respond quickly, organize methodically and coordinate more effectively," the Deputy Minister added that this is a large gap that needs to be addressed in the national-level project.
According to the implementation plan for the period 2026-2030, Vietnam aims to equip at least one ambulance per 100,000 people, while expanding first aid skills training for many forces such as police, flight attendants, students and people.
Previously, 6 pilot localities were equipped with 85 international standard ambulances, each with about 380 modern medical equipment.
Currently, the rate of ambulances in Vietnam is about 0.2 vehicles/100,000 people, much lower than in developed countries in the region. The emergency capacity before the hospital is still scattered, lacking connection between coordination, transportation and initial treatment.
The Ministry of Health is proposing to combine the medical force with fire prevention and fighting to shorten the time to access the scene. It is expected that the health sector will arrange emergency teams within a radius of 3 km in urban areas and 6 km in rural areas. At the same time, the artificial intelligence (AI) application system to support call reception, patient status classification, access to electronic health records and priority traffic coordination for ambulances.
Dr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health), the standing unit for developing the Project, said: Out-of-hospital emergency helps save patients' lives in "golden time"; helps early intervention, reduces mortality and complications. Statistics in countries with developed out-of-hospital emergency systems show that the mortality rate is reduced by 20 to 40%.
On the other hand, it helps improve the quality of healthcare services and community confidence in the readiness and effectiveness of the healthcare system, which is an important criterion for evaluating the capacity of the healthcare system.
