Doctors participate in training with the sports team
In the new regulations of Decree No. 349/2025/ND-CP just issued on December 30, 2025, medical staff (doctors, medical technicians) of national youth teams and teams receiving or not receiving salaries from the State budget are in the group of subjects eligible to enjoy regimes and policies according to the regulations of the sports sector.
At the same time, medical staff (doctors, medical technicians) have the most guaranteed salary regime. Decree No. 349/2025/ND-CP specifically states that medical staff are entitled to salary according to this number for actual training and competition with national teams.
Medical staff who do not receive salaries from the state budget: Doctors are paid salaries equal to the salaries of corresponding team coaches; medical techniques are paid salaries equal to the salaries of corresponding team athletes; Medical staff who are receiving salaries from the state budget: Are entitled to the full salary they are receiving (including salary level, salary allowances if any) paid by the management agency; are entitled to compensation for the difference in case the salary they are receiving (calculated on average according to the number of normal working days in the month) is lower than the prescribed salary. The average salary calculated according to the number of normal working days is determined by the salary of the month immediately preceding the time the medical staff is summoned divided by 26 days," the regulation clearly states.
In 2025 and before, the regulations on regimes and policies for national sports teams when training and competing did not have content for doctors and sports medical staff. This inadequacy was changed from 2026.
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Assessing the fact that medical staff (doctors, medical technicians) are subject to policies and regimes when training national sports teams, representatives of the coaching staff of the Vietnamese athletics team said that this is a positive and valuable signal.
Any sports team needs a doctor to accompany them because during training, the doctor directly following the team thoroughly grasps the athlete's health condition, thereby making appropriate adjustments," said a representative of the coaching staff of the Vietnamese Athletics Team.
Meanwhile, the coaches of the Vietnam Weightlifting Team believe that Decree No. 349/2025/ND-CP helps the team of doctors to work conveniently, without violating regulations.
Weightlifting also needs a team of doctors accompanying the athletes. This is a sport that can cause injuries during training, so when supplemented with medical staff according to the training program, it will be good for athletes," a representative of the Vietnamese Weightlifting Team shared.
Usually, players of national sports teams are still guaranteed health by the team of doctors and medical staff at national training centers.
However, each team always hopes to be arranged with specialized medical staff to accompany them all the time. Only then will it be better to grasp athlete health issues. When the regime for doctors in national sports teams is expanded according to Decree No. 349/2025/ND-CP, Vietnamese sports is starting to need more sports doctors than before.
Athletics expert Duong Duc Thuy, former head of the athletics department of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, analyzed: "Sports doctors are an important force, especially for athletics teams. They need to accompany the team from training to competition. However, for sports doctors to wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to the national team, the regime and policies for them need to be ensured. Otherwise, they will have to find other development directions and thus we will lose a very special team of sports doctors.
