The Ministry of Health directly manages a small number of hospitals.
According to the Decision, the Ministry of Health directly manages a small number of leading specialized hospitals, hospitals responsible for ensuring health security in the Central Highlands and key socio-economic regions, in accordance with the national health facility network planning.
Transfer to local management or merge into public service units under the Ministry of Health for hospitals not subject to the above regulations.
Regarding the implementation plan and roadmap, by the end of 2025, the Ministry of Health will hand over the Central Hospital 74 to the People's Committee of Vinh Phuc province for management.
Reorganize and rearrange hospitals: Central Hospital 71, Central Nursing and Rehabilitation Hospital are converted into practice hospitals of Hanoi Medical University; Quang Nam Central General Hospital is converted into facility 3 of Hue Central General Hospital.
In the period of 2026 - 2030, develop a specific Plan to implement the arrangement and reorganization of hospitals under the Ministry of Health in the period of 2026 - 2030, achieving the goals in Resolution No. 19-NQ/TW and Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW, and submit it to the Prime Minister in the second quarter of 2025.
Before the reorganization plan was approved, the country had 34 central hospitals under the Ministry of Health as final-level hospitals, including 11 general hospitals (such as Bach Mai Hospital, E Hospital, Cho Ray Hospital...), 23 specialized hospitals (such as the Central Geriatric Hospital, Central Dermatology Hospital, Central Obstetrics Hospital, K Hospital...), and 13 hospitals under the University of Medicine and Pharmacy under the Ministry of Health (such as Hanoi Medical University Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy...).
According to the 2020 Health Statistical Yearbook, the number of hospital beds in central hospitals under the Ministry of Health accounts for 11.3% of the total number of public hospital beds nationwide.
The proportion of inpatient medical service use at this level accounts for about 9.4%. This figure is 51.4% for provincial level and 37.3% for district level. The proportion of non-public hospital beds accounts for about 7% of the total number of hospital beds nationwide.
According to the Ministry of Health, when some provincial hospitals are invested in and upgraded to become regional hospitals, the trend of people using medical services at the central level will decrease.
The agency predicts that by 2050, the proportion of services used at central hospitals is expected to decrease to 5%. About 50% of patients will use inpatient services at provincial hospitals, and 40% will be at district hospitals.
Access to central health care is limited in some areas.
According to the assessment of Vietnam's healthcare network, the spatial distribution of central hospitals is uneven among socio-economic regions. Accordingly, central hospitals assume the role of the final line in terms of technical expertise, but access to central hospitals is limited in some regions.
For example, the Central Highlands region has no central-level hospital, the Mekong Delta region has 13 provinces but only 1 central-level hospital, the Northern Midlands and Mountains region has 14 provinces but also only 1 central-level hospital.
Accessibility in terms of distance to central hospitals is still low. In some provinces, the distance from the provincial general hospital to the nearest central general hospital takes 4-5 hours by car, and in some provinces it takes 10-11 hours.
According to the Ministry of Health, the quality of medical services between levels and regions is still different. Going beyond the prescribed level for medical examination and treatment is still quite common.
Assessing the capacity of provincial hospitals and primary health care facilities, the Ministry of Health said that the capacity to provide medical services of provincial hospitals is limited; the rate of patients from other provinces coming to some central hospitals for examination and treatment is very high.
According to Vietnam Social Security data in 2020, the rate of multidisciplinary patients coming from other provinces is highest at Cho Ray Hospital (86.5%), Viet Duc Friendship Hospital (75.2%), Can Tho Central General Hospital (70.9%) and Bach Mai Hospital (68.3%).
A study assessing the overload and underload of some hospitals conducted by the Institute of Health Strategy and Policy shows that up to 35.4% of patients coming to Bach Mai Hospital for examination and treatment could be treated at provincial hospitals; the same is true for the Central Obstetrics Hospital at 43.3% and the Central Children's Hospital at 35.5%.
