The Ministry of Health is seeking opinions on the draft Circular regulating the decentralization of authority to recruit, use and manage civil servants and public employees under the Ministry. If promulgated, many previous powers directly implemented by the Ministry will be assigned to affiliated units, in order to increase proactiveness, shorten administrative procedures and enhance the responsibility of heads.
According to the Ministry of Health, from July 1, 2026, the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and the Law on Public Employees (amended) along with guiding decrees have taken effect, with many changes in the management and use of civil servants and public employees. Some contents such as recruitment, job position changes, transfer, assignment or approval of job positions are regulated in the direction of assigning management agencies or decentralizing to agencies to use.
To be consistent with the new regulations and the policy of promoting decentralization and delegation of power, the Ministry of Health believes that the issuance of the circular is necessary to create a legal basis for the recruitment, use and management of civil servants and public employees in administrative agencies and public non-business units directly under the Ministry to be smooth and stable.
According to the draft, heads of Departments and the Ministry Office will be assigned many powers in civil servant recruitment. These units are built and decide on recruitment plans, establish recruitment councils, and recognize recruitment results.
In addition, the heads of units are also allowed to decide to receive and become civil servants for some cases such as public employees working in public non-business units; people receiving salaries in the People's Army, People's Police or cryptography organizations but not civil servants; people who were former cadres and civil servants and then were transferred or rotated to non-civil servant positions.
The draft emphasizes that decentralization must ensure unified management, in accordance with the law, and at the same time be consistent with the management capacity of each unit. The goal is to simplify administrative procedures, increase autonomy and self-responsibility of agencies and units, and enhance the responsibility of heads.
Regarding job position changes, the draft also proposes to delegate more authority to units directly under the Ministry.
In case civil servants are transferred to positions with higher ranks, the heads of Departments, Bureaus and the Ministry Office will be decided to establish a Council to assess the meeting of standards and conditions of civil servants according to the job position change plan. After that, the heads of Departments and the Ministry Office will decide on the change of job position and corresponding rank for civil servants under their management.
For cases of transferring to positions with the same professional rank but different ranks, the heads of Departments and the Ministry Office are allowed to decide on the change of job position and new rank according to their authority.
In case of transfer to a position with a lower rank, the head of the agency using civil servants is allowed to decide if the civil servant does not meet the requirements of the task or has a voluntary request to transfer to a lower position.
The draft also proposes to assign the heads of Departments and Offices of the Ministry the authority to decide on the transfer and assignment of civil servants under their management according to the provisions of law; and at the same time to decide on the dismissal of civil servants under their management, except in cases where they are heads or deputy heads of administrative organizations under the Ministry.
