People who were once "lost" in the medical facility itself
In June 2023, Lao Dong Newspaper published a series of articles about inadequacies with population officials. Although working in the health system, performing population tasks at the grassroots level, many people are not assigned to the right job positions, directly affecting regimes and rights.
Many civil servants are professionally trained and have been attached to population work for many years, but their job positions are not suitable for their actual work. Their desire is to be properly positioned, recognized for the right job and enjoy a corresponding regime.
After the series of articles, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health have taken steps related to the job position of this team.
At that time, population officials from 63 old provinces and cities sent thanks to Lao Dong Newspaper for accompanying them. They hoped to be recognized for their right position in the medical professional system and enjoy commensurate preferential policies.
From a 30% allowance to the opportunity to enjoy a 70-80% allowance
Three years later, Decree No. 350/2026/ND-CP dated September 9, 2026 of the Government stipulating the professional preferential allowance regime for medical staff created an important change. This time, "population" is clearly recorded in the definition of medical professionals.
Clause 4, Article 3 of Decree 350 defines medical professionals as people with appropriate expertise, assigned to the correct job positions in the fields of the health sector, including population.
This regulation is especially meaningful for civil servants assigned to population jobs at commune-level health stations.
Mr. Le Thanh Dung - Director of the Department of Population - analyzed that professional staff at health stations not only include doctors and nurses but also professional staff with job positions in the fields of the health sector, including population.
From that determination, if meeting the conditions of the Decree, medical professionals at commune-level health stations are applied allowances according to workplace and area, instead of just looking at the two words "population" to automatically classify it as 30%.
According to Article 4 of Decree 350, the 80% allowance level applies to medical professionals at commune-level health stations, preventive health facilities in border and island areas; communes in area II, area III of ethnic minority and mountainous areas as prescribed. In the remaining areas, medical professionals at commune-level health stations are eligible for the 70% level.
Meanwhile, the 30% level is still regulated for public employees working in health education and population communication, but excludes cases that are already in clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Article 4.
That does not mean that all population officials enjoy 70-80%. The benefit level must be determined based on the job position, tasks and workplace of each person. But for officials with population professional positions at commune-level health stations, the new regulations have opened up a legal basis for them to enjoy the same allowance level as other health professional officials at the same level.
If 3 years ago, the story Lao Dong Newspaper raised was why some people working in population work are "lonely in their own medical home", then Decree 350 has an important answer from a policy perspective: Population is a field under the state management scope of the health sector and people with appropriate expertise, assigned to professional positions, population nghiệp vụ are identified as public employees working in medical expertise.
Decree 350/2026/ND-CP takes effect from September 9, 2026. The professional preferential allowances specified in this Decree are implemented from January 1, 2026.
