Opening up the potential of traditional medicine in the new era
Traditional medicine and pharmaceuticals are an important part of Vietnamese medicine, and are always concerned by the Party and State to preserve, develop and promote their values.
Many major guidelines and policies have been issued to promote this field, including Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW on strengthening the protection, care and improvement of people's health; Conclusion No. 86-KL/TW in 2024 of the Secretariat on continuing to develop Vietnamese traditional medicine.
In particular, Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW of 2025 of the Politburo has emphasized the requirement to promote the potential and strengths of traditional medicine, strengthen the combination of traditional medicine with modern medicine in human resource training, disease prevention and treatment.
At a working session with the Ministry of Health on May 20, 2026, General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized: Developing traditional medicine, taking better care of people's health in the new era.
Traditional medicine is facing great development opportunities as the country enters a new stage. Accordingly, this field needs to be developed on the basis of inheriting national quintessence, combined with modern science and technology, becoming an important part of national medicine and a resource for national development.
The General Secretary and President requested to build a traditional medicine ecosystem associated with health economy, culture and tourism; develop health care centers, health recovery areas, medicinal herb villages and medicinal herb growing areas in a sustainable direction.
The General Secretary and President also proposed building a national brand for Vietnamese traditional medicine associated with health economy and healing tourism; soon issue a Strategy for Development of Traditional Medicine to 2030, with a vision to 2045.
The general spirit is to turn the heritage of traditional medicine into a resource for national development and better people's health care in the new era" - General Secretary, President To Lam emphasized.
Removing bottlenecks for traditional medicine to accelerate
The directions of General Secretary and President To Lam on traditional medicine are of great significance. This is not just a story of a medical specialty, but a story of national culture, of science and technology, of health economy, of population quality and more deeply of national soft power.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, there are currently 5 traditional medicine hospitals directly under the Ministry of Health and ministries and sectors nationwide; 61 provincial and city-level traditional medicine hospitals and 10 private traditional medicine hospitals.
In 2025, the number of medical examinations and treatments using traditional medicine reached nearly 7 million, accounting for about 3.3% of the total number of medical examinations and treatments nationwide. In which, the rate of medical examinations and treatments using traditional medicine reached 11% at the provincial level, 16% at the district level and 24% at the commune level.
The list of traditional medicines covered by the Health Insurance Fund currently includes 229 traditional medicines, medicinal herbs and 349 traditional medicine ingredients, contributing to improving people's access to services.
However, the Ministry of Health said that the rate of medical examination and treatment using traditional medicine at the grassroots health level is trending downwards. The proportion of expenditure on traditional medicine in total drug expenditure only reached about 5.42% in 2025.
In addition, service quality between regions and regions is still uneven; human resources in many localities do not meet both quantity and quality requirements. Scientific research, clinical trials, and treatment effectiveness assessment have also not been invested in commensurately.
According to the Ministry of Health, in recent years, the traditional medicine medical examination and treatment network has been gradually strengthened. Many specialized techniques have been effectively deployed, contributing to reducing the burden on upper levels, improving treatment quality and patient satisfaction.
Standing Deputy Minister of Health Vu Manh Ha said that traditional medicine is increasingly affirming its role in the people's healthcare system, but there are still many inadequacies that need to be removed to fully develop its potential.
Such as the organization of health insurance medical examination and treatment in the field of traditional medicine in some localities is still not synchronized. The capacity to provide services between levels is still uneven, while the process of referral, receiving patients and initial medical examination and treatment registration is not really suitable for the specific characteristics of the specialty as well as the increasing needs of the people.
Improving the mechanism to promote strengths
According to Deputy Minister Vu Manh Ha, the completion of mechanisms and policies to remove current bottlenecks is of particular importance in the context of increasing demand for traditional medicine health care.
The Ministry of Health will study and develop a list of diseases and groups of diseases allowed to be directly examined and treated at specialized facilities in traditional medicine and pharmaceuticals. This will help patients with chronic diseases, diseases requiring rehabilitation or long-term treatment access appropriate services faster, reduce administrative procedures and ensure health insurance benefits.
Along with that, modernizing the production of ancient remedies, family remedies, developing new drugs from medicinal herbs and expanding high-tech services in traditional medicine are identified as urgent tasks.
In the context of rapidly aging population and increasing burden of disease, traditional medicine is expected to play a more important role in primary health care, geriatrics, rehabilitation and home care, contributing to improving the quality of life for people.
