Population workers at health stations belong to the group of medical professionals.
Decree 350/2026/ND-CP stipulates the professional preferential allowance regime for health workers that is receiving attention from the population work team, especially those working at commune and ward health stations.
One of the concerns is that the Decree stipulates a allowance level of 30% for civil servants working in health education and population communication, but at the same time, it identifies population as one of the professional fields of the health sector and stipulates a level of 70-80% for civil servants working in medical expertise at commune-level health stations depending on the area.
Talking to a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Le Thanh Dung - Director of the Population Department, Ministry of Health - said that to determine the allowance level, first of all, it is necessary to determine which group workers belong to, where they work, and the specific job position.
According to Mr. Dung, it is necessary to recognize the new regulations in the context that the health sector currently manages many fields, including population. "The health sector today with fields such as: disease prevention, medical examination and treatment, population, social protection...", so officials working in these fields are all officials working in the health sector, Mr. Dung said.
The point Mr. Dung especially emphasized is the way to identify medical professionals at health stations.
According to the Director of the Department of Population, this concept is not limited to doctors or nurses. "Professional officials at health stations include all professional people with job positions in these fields, not just doctors or nurses, and job positions can be general practitioners, specialist doctors, preventive medicine doctors, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical technicians, public health workers and then have population...", Mr. Dung analyzed.
This explanation is consistent with Clause 4, Article 3 of Decree 350/2026/ND-CP. Accordingly, medical professionals are people with appropriate professional qualifications, assigned by competent authorities to professional and nghiệp vụ positions in the fields listed by the Decree, including population.
This is also the key point to distinguish between the group of civil servants whose job position is population at commune-level health stations and the group of civil servants working in population work who are eligible for a 30% level.
Population officials enjoy allowances of 70% or 80% depending on the area
According to Mr. Le Thanh Dung, for medical professionals at commune-level health stations, the benefit level must be based on the area where they work.
Mr. Dung said that the group in communes in areas subject to special regulations will enjoy a level of 80%, while in the remaining communes belonging to the group 70%.
In comparison with official regulations, Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree 350 stipulates a level of 80% for medical professionals at commune-level health stations, preventive health facilities in border and island areas; in communes in area II (difficult communes), area III (especially difficult communes) ethnic minority and mountainous areas according to the Government's regulations.
Meanwhile, the 70% level applies to medical professionals at commune-level health stations, preventive health facilities in the remaining areas; provincial and city disease control centers; provincial and city border health quarantine centers; preventive health institutes.
Thus, according to the explanation of the Director of the Department of Population and the comparison of the provisions of the Decree, civil servants working in medical expertise in population jobs at commune-level health stations do not automatically belong to the group enjoying 80% or 70%. The allowance level is determined according to the group of subjects, job position and corresponding working area.
The rest, the group of civil servants working in population work at regional health centers and some non-business units under the Population Sub-Departments will enjoy a 30% allowance.
Decree 350/2026/ND-CP takes effect from September 9, 2026, but the professional preferential allowance levels specified in the Decree are implemented from January 1, 2026.
