Specify policies to prioritize investment in developing medical facilities in remote, isolated, and ethnic minority areas.

On the afternoon of October 17, continuing the 50th Session, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Resolution of the National Assembly stipulating a number of mechanisms and policies to effectively implement Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health.

People are given periodic health check-ups once a year according to priority groups and routes.

The draft Resolution was presented by Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan. Accordingly, the draft Resolution consists of 7 articles, stipulating a number of mechanisms and policies according to the following principles: contents under the decision-making authority of the National Assembly; issues that need to be implemented immediately but have not been regulated in laws or are different from the provisions of current laws but have not been amended or supplemented; issues that have been included in other documents, programs and plans of the National Assembly are not included in the draft Resolution.

Regarding the policy group on reducing medical costs for people, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that, in order to comply with the provisions of Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW on "Implementing periodic health check-ups or free screening for people at least once a year according to priority groups and roadmaps" and the ability to balance the budget, the Government proposed that from 2026, people will be given periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year according to priority groups and roadmaps; organize coordination between periodic health check-ups, free screening, health check-ups for students, occupational health check-ups, health check-ups for workers according to regulations and health insurance examination and treatment to provide free medical check-ups and complete the creation of electronic health books for all people and assign the Government to determine appropriate funding sources for implementation.

In addition, it is proposed that from 2027, the benefit level within the scope of health insurance benefits will be 100% for subjects belonging to near-poor households and elderly people aged 75 and over who are receiving social retirement benefits.

Presenting the Preliminary Review Report, Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh said that the Standing Committee of the Committee agreed on the purpose and viewpoint of drafting the Resolution. The draft Resolution dossier basically complies with regulations.

The Standing Committee of the Committee requested the drafting agency to continue reviewing and researching the institutionalization of the contents of Resolution 72-NQ/TW of the Politburo , such as: "Encouraging people to proactively access counseling services, pre-marital health check-ups, prenatal and newborn screening, screening for some common and dangerous diseases suitable for each age group and target group"; "Promoting the potential and strengths of traditional medicine"; "Maintaining the team of medical staff in villages, residential groups, village midwives, population collaborators according to their functions and tasks"; "Strongly promoting the participation of the private economic sector, mobilizing social resources in people's health care"; "Improving the capacity of the testing and inspection system", "Prioritizing the arrangement and mobilization of resources, having outstanding policies and mechanisms to develop medical human resources"...

The Standing Committee also proposed to transfer the content on "periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year from 2026" to the draft Law on Disease Prevention (to be considered and approved at the 10th Session), which clearly stipulates the principles on financial mechanisms, applicable subjects, priority roadmap, implementation time and assigns the Government to specify details.

Clarifying the coordination mechanism between military, civilian and police health

Commenting on the draft Resolution, Chairman of the Council of Nationalities Lam Van Man suggested that a number of solutions and tasks set out in Resolution 72-NQ/TW related to ethnic policies need to continue to be reviewed and researched for more complete institutionalization.

Specifically, Resolution 72-NQ/TW states the priority task of investing in developing medical facilities in remote areas, ethnic minority areas; areas with difficulties and limitations in accessing health care services. In particular, encouraging the development of health care facilities in ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, areas with difficult socio-economic conditions, border areas, islands...

However, the Chairman of the Ethnic Council noted that the draft Resolution does not have specific provisions on priority policies and incentives for investment in developing medical facilities and health care facilities for the above regions, such as: prioritizing resource mobilization; outstanding policies for developing medical facilities and health care facilities...

Resolution 72-NQ/TW also stated the task of strengthening the combination of military, civilian and public security medicine to promptly respond to public health emergencies and health care for people in remote areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, islands, etc. Therefore, the Chairman of the Nationalities Council requested the drafting agency to consider and specify this content in the draft Resolution; clarify the coordination mechanism of military, civilian and public security medicine in the implementation organization.

Regarding the expansion of health care benefits and cost reduction for people (Article 2), the Chairman of the Ethnic Council highly appreciated the drafting agency for designing a roadmap and classifying subjects specifically. He agreed with the preliminary review opinion of the Standing Committee of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee to include this content in the draft Law on Disease Prevention to ensure consistency and unity in the legal system.

In his concluding remarks, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh stated that the National Assembly Standing Committee highly appreciated the sense of responsibility of the Government, the drafting agency and relevant agencies in preparing the draft Resolution dossier; and acknowledged the initiative and positivity of the agency in charge of the appraisal.

The National Assembly Standing Committee proposed that the Government direct the study and fully absorb the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the opinions of the examining body and the National Assembly agencies to promptly complete the draft Resolution dossier. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to fully supplementing component reports, impact assessments, specific explanations of resources and expected implementation costs; consulting opinions, carefully reviewing the content of the draft Resolution with relevant current laws as well as laws in the process of being amended and supplemented.

At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the breakthrough nature of the draft Resolution; perfect regulations on reducing medical costs for people; financial policies, land and tax policies need to be clear and in accordance with regulations; have an official viewpoint on the content related to the development of high-quality human resources, specialized and specialized training in the health sector, and avoid widespread training.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly assigned the Committee on Culture and Social Affairs to urgently complete the Official Verification Report to submit to the National Assembly at the upcoming 10th Session.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/quy-dinh-cu-the-chinh-sach-uu-tien-dau-tu-phat-trien-co-so-y-te-tai-vung-sau-vung-xa-vung-dan-toc-thieu-so-10390782.html