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 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.
The General Secretary and President also noted that it is necessary to especially attach importance to promoting science, technology and digital transformation, protecting intellectual property to standardize and digitize Vietnamese traditional medicine; urgently digitize the entire treasure, family remedies, and precious indigenous knowledge of Vietnamese ethnic groups; build and complete the national database on traditional medicine; build national key research programs on medicinal herbs, high-value remedies; must link research with commercialization and the market, with close coordination between research institutes, universities and hospitals, local businesses...
Traditional medicine doctors in the AI era: Opportunity or challenge?
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Huy, Director of the Vietnam Academy of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy, said that Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo on developing science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation to 2030, with a vision to 2045, has created an important orientation for the health sector. According to him, digital transformation is not only a major policy but also an inevitable trend to improve the quality of training, research and people's health care, opening up many opportunities and challenges.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Huy emphasized that digital transformation at the Academy is not simply investing in technological equipment but a comprehensive innovation process from management, teaching, research to thinking and learning culture. In recent years, the Academy has implemented many solutions such as learning management systems (LMS), electronic learning materials, online question banks and gradually applying data technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in managing and analyzing scientific research topics.
However, besides benefits such as improving learning quality, increasing teaching effectiveness and expanding access to clinical situations, the application of AI in medical training also poses many challenges. The risks pointed out include excessive dependence on technology, the possibility of inaccurate information appearing, the risk of medical data leakage as well as the disparity in technology access conditions between training institutions.
Digital platform development roadmap in traditional medicine
According to the plan, in the period 2025–2027, the Vietnam Academy of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy will continue to improve the LMS platform, upgrade the online learning experience, develop a digital library on traditional medicine and build a database of remedies, medicinal herbs, and medical records to serve AI research and application.
In the period 2028–2030, the Academy aims to apply virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology in clinical practice to improve diagnostic skills. At the same time, in-depth data analysis systems will be deployed to forecast disease trends and support personalized medical research.
After 2030, the Academy aims to build a comprehensive digital learning platform, connecting students, doctors and researchers with artificial intelligence systems, thereby promoting inter-sectoral cooperation and improving the quality of training and research.
Traditional medicine is increasingly trusted and chosen by people
In many traditional medicine facilities today, non-drug treatments such as acupuncture, massage, acupressure and dưỡng sinh are increasingly being chosen by people, especially in functional rehabilitation and treatment of chronic diseases.
Ha Dong Traditional Medicine Hospital has put into operation a high-quality neuropsychiatric - musculoskeletal treatment unit to meet the needs of in-depth medical examination and treatment of people in the Capital. The unit specializes in examination and treatment of diseases such as headaches, back pain, peritonitis, sequelae after stroke and many other musculoskeletal diseases.
The hospital currently effectively applies a model combining traditional medicine and modern medicine, receiving hundreds of visits every day. Many patients have recovered positively after strokes, accidents and musculoskeletal diseases thanks to the combination of acupuncture, massage, acupressure and functional rehabilitation.
Modernization but still preserving traditional values
According to Dr. Quach Tuan Vinh, Central Vietnam Oriental Medicine Association, modernizing traditional medicine is not replacing or denying traditional values but a process of inheritance, standardization and development based on modern science. In the context of increasing chronic diseases, the need for rehabilitation and long-term health care is increasing, integrating traditional medicine with modern medicine is an inevitable trend.
According to the orientation of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Vietnam's policy, traditional medicine needs to be developed in the direction of standardization, modernization and based on scientific evidence. In the integrated medicine model, modern medicine promotes its strengths in diagnosis, emergency and specific treatment, while traditional medicine supports treatment, disease prevention, rehabilitation and community health care.
In recent years, Vietnam has achieved many positive results in building traditional medicine technical processes, developing herbal medicines, applying non-drug methods such as acupuncture, atrial acupuncture, thread embedding, massage - dưỡng sinh, and promoting scientific research, digital transformation and human resource training.
Besides modernizing techniques and treatment methods, preserving traditional medicine cultural values is still considered an important factor for traditional medicine to develop sustainably. Modernizing traditional medicine in an integrated model with modern medicine is identified as an effective path to improve the quality of health care, rehabilitation and affirm the position of Vietnamese traditional medicine in the modern health system.
