Many foreigners use Ho Chi Minh City healthcare services
Living in the US for more than 20 years, Ms. Kieu Giang (65 years old, US nationality) said that she regularly returns to Vietnam for health check-ups and dental work. According to her, dental costs in the US are very high, while the quality of treatment and maxillofacial techniques in Vietnam are increasingly developing, meeting the needs of treatment well.
In 2020, she decided to return to Vietnam to perform a full-denture porcelain implant service with a total cost of about 168 million VND. According to Ms. Giang, if performed in the US, the cost could be 3 times higher. "I think everything is okay. After that dental transplant, every year I return to Vietnam for periodic check-ups, and also combine visits to relatives," Ms. Kieu Giang shared.
Trusting the treatment capacity of Vietnamese medicine, a 66-year-old female patient, Cambodian nationality, decided to go to Vietnam for treatment after discovering an ovarian tumor weighing about 1.5kg spreading in her abdomen.
About 3 months before that, the patient showed signs of poor eating, weight loss but no abdominal pain, no fever, no urinary disorders or vaginal bleeding. After examination in the locality and discovering a tumor, the patient chose to go to Hong Duc II General Hospital to continue treatment.
Examination and CT-scan results showed a large tumor, suggesting widespread malignant lesions. Because this is a case suspected of high-risk ovarian cancer, Hong Duc II General Hospital invited a team of experts from Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital to support consultation and coordinate surgery.
BSCKII Nguyen Van Tien, Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department - Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, said that this is a common disease in postmenopausal women but can progress dangerously if detected late. During the surgery, the team performed a hysterectomy, two ovaries and a large connective membrane in the direction of radical treatment like an ovarian cancer. According to BS Tien, the surgery took place smoothly because the tumor was not invasive and complex or caused severe complications in the abdominal cavity.
Ho Chi Minh City orients health tourism development
Vietnam currently welcomes about 300,000 international visitors for outpatient examinations and 57,000 inpatient treatments each year, of which Ho Chi Minh City accounts for about 40%. Ho Chi Minh City has 54 hospitals and clinics licensed to examine and treat foreigners.
With the construction and development of the Ho Chi Minh City Health Tourism Development Project for the period 2025-2030, vision 2045, the city aspires to become a leading medical center in the region with high treatment quality, reasonable prices, and more and more hospitals upgrading facilities, applying technology and international standard care procedures. All towards the ultimate goal of developing health tourism, comprehensive and sustainable health care.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tang Chi Thuong - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, highly appreciated the in-depth development orientation and international cooperation of hospitals in the city.
He said that Ho Chi Minh City is promoting the construction of a specialized health network, connecting public, private and international hospitals to improve treatment quality, and at the same time promote the development of medical tourism. Currently, many medical facilities in the city have attracted an increasing number of foreigners to examine and treat.
According to the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, some hospitals have developed their own treatment areas to serve international visitors and regularly operate at full capacity. This is considered a positive sign showing that Ho Chi Minh City's healthcare is increasingly gaining trust with foreign patients.
He also emphasized that to develop sustainable medical tourism, hospitals need to continue to invest in technology, standardize quality according to international standards and expand professional cooperation with foreign partners. In addition, the model of combining specialized treatment, rehabilitation and nursing care is also identified as one of the important development directions of the city's health sector in the coming time.
