Those who will receive priority when seeking medical examination and treatment from January 1, 2024.

Priority cases for medical examination and treatment from January 1, 2024

According to Clauses 1, 2, and 3, Article 3 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 (effective from January 1, 2024), the definitions of terms are as follows:

- Medical examination is the process by which healthcare professionals use their knowledge, methods, and professional techniques to assess the health status, health risks, and healthcare needs of patients.

- Treatment is the process by which medical practitioners use their knowledge, methods, and professional techniques to resolve a patient's condition, prevent its onset or progression, or meet the patient's healthcare needs based on the results of a medical examination.

- A patient is a person who uses medical examination and treatment services.

Clause 2, Article 3 of the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment stipulates the principles in medical examination and treatment as follows:

Priority should be given to medical examination and treatment for patients in emergency situations.

Children under 6 years old;

Pregnant women;

People with severe disabilities;

Severely disabled people;

People aged 75 and above;

Those who have rendered meritorious service to the revolution are appropriate to the specific characteristics of the medical examination and treatment facility.

Thus, the age group prioritized for medical examination and treatment is regulated as above.

What activities are prioritized in the state budget for medical examination and treatment?

Article 4 of the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment stipulates the priority allocation of State budget funds for the following activities to ensure the goal of providing quality medical services and meeting the diverse medical needs of the people:

- Developing primary healthcare facilities and pre-hospital emergency services: Investing in and developing primary healthcare and pre-hospital emergency services is crucial for providing effective and timely medical services to the public, especially in emergency situations.

- Focus investment on medical examination and treatment facilities in border areas, islands, ethnic minority and mountainous regions, areas with difficult socio-economic conditions, and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions: This ensures that people in these disadvantaged areas will have access to adequate and appropriate healthcare services tailored to their local circumstances.

- Priority should be given to allocating state budget funds for the following activities: Medical examination and treatment for people who have rendered meritorious services to the revolution; children, the elderly, people with disabilities, people from poor households, people from near-poor households; people living in border areas, islands, areas with difficult socio-economic conditions and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions; people with mental illness, leprosy; people with infectious diseases belonging to group A; people with infectious diseases belonging to group B according to the list prescribed by the Minister of Health .

The professional license is valid for 5 years.

In addition to the above, the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment also contains provisions related to medical practitioners.

Accordingly, the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment expands the scope of practitioners by changing the licensing system from professional qualifications to professional titles.

The law also changes the method of granting professional licenses from issuing licenses based on application review to requiring an assessment of professional competence before granting a license.

The regulations stipulate that medical practice licenses are valid for 5 years, and updating medical knowledge is one of the conditions for renewing the license.

Regulations stipulate that foreigners practicing medicine long-term in Vietnam and providing medical examination and treatment to Vietnamese people must be proficient in Vietnamese. This excludes certain cases involving expert exchange, technology transfer, and training.

Regarding the quality of medical examination and treatment services, the law has changed from four levels of specialization to three levels of specialization.

At the same time, the law also allows private polyclinics in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions to set up inpatient beds for monitoring and treating patients, but for a maximum of 72 hours.

Minh Hoa (compiled)

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