On September 14, according to the investigation of Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, Thanh Hoa continued to implement a policy to attract highly qualified doctors and doctors to work at public health non-business units with significantly higher support levels than in the previous period.
Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee approved the supplementation of the 2026 budget estimate for the Department of Health to implement the policy of attracting highly qualified doctors and doctors to work at public health non-business units in Thanh Hoa province according to Resolution No. 26/2026/NQ-HDND dated July 17, 2026 of the Provincial People's Council, with a total budget estimate of more than 6.44 billion VND.
Previously, Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 26/2026/NQ-HĐND dated July 17, 2026 on policies to attract doctors for the period 2026-2030. The Resolution takes effect from July 27, 2026 to the end of 2030 and uses the provincial budget to implement the policy.
According to the Thanh Hoa Health Sector Development Project for the period 2026-2030, the province plans to allocate 120 billion VND specifically for doctor attraction policies and set a target of attracting about 290 doctors in 5 years. In 2026 alone, the province plans to allocate more than 9.3 billion VND; in 2027, 2028 and 2029, nearly 30 billion VND is expected to be allocated each year.
A noteworthy point lies in the level of support for high-level doctors.
According to Resolution 26, doctors with the academic title of professor receive a one-time support of 3 billion VND; associate professors receive 2 billion VND; doctors of medicine or specialist doctors II receive 1 billion VND.
Resident doctors, masters of medicine, specialist doctors I and doctors graduating with honors receive a one-time support of 500 million VND. In addition to this amount, the province also supports each person with an amount equivalent to one month's basic salary per month for 24 months.
The policy also allows adding the level of support according to qualifications to the level of support according to area for highly qualified doctors to some grassroots and mountainous medical units.
For example, if a professor meets all conditions and comes to work at the commune health station in area III, this person can receive 3.58 billion VND in one-time support, including 3 billion VND according to academic title and 580 million VND according to the work area.
Similarly, a associate professor at a commune health station in region III can receive 2.58 billion VND; doctors with doctoral degrees or specialist degrees II can receive 1.58 billion VND.
Even the group of resident doctors, masters of medicine, specialist doctors level I or doctors with excellent degrees, if working at commune health stations in region III, the total one-time support level can reach 1.08 billion VND.
The above levels do not include monthly support for 24 months. The Resolution stipulates that doctors working at commune health stations in area II receive an additional 520 million VND per time; area I receives 450 million VND; the remaining communes receive 400 million VND and ward health stations receive 260 million VND.
Compared to the policy for the 2023-2025 period, Thanh Hoa has significantly increased the support level for high-level human resources. The old policy stipulated that professors received 1.3 billion VND, associate professors 800 million VND, and doctors or specialists level II received 400 million VND. Thus, the new policy increased the support level for professors from 1.3 billion to 3 billion VND, while associate professors increased from 800 million to 2 billion VND.
In return, doctors must commit to working hours. Professors, associate professors and doctors must commit to working for at least 5 years; the remaining groups of doctors must commit for at least 10 years. The Resolution also requires policy beneficiaries to reimburse the corresponding amount of money for the time they have not fulfilled their commitments if they voluntarily violate the commitment or fall into cases that must be reimbursed according to regulations.
Previously, during the policy implementation period 2023-2025, Thanh Hoa attracted 38 doctors and spent more than 9.5 billion VND to support. However, among these, only 2 doctors came to work at the commune health station.
