Vietnam's medical training is unique and what can be done to change it?

"I had the opportunity to learn about the principles and training programs for medical doctors in many countries in Southeast Asia as well as in many developed countries in Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States," former Deputy Minister of Health Le Quang Cuong told Tuoi Tre.

The Cardiovascular Center - E Hospital ( Ministry of Health ) in collaboration with the Vietnam Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery and the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy - National University organized a medical training program to transfer techniques to provincial hospitals, helping provincial hospitals update knowledge on endoscopic heart surgery with 3D technology - Photo: VNA

In recent days, many readers have expressed their interest and opinions on medical training in Vietnam. Prof. Dr. Le Quang Cuong, former Deputy Minister of Health, currently President of the Vietnam Medical Education Association, shared:

A consistent principle of medical training is that doctors after graduation have the ability to treat common diseases, but to perform specialized techniques and treat complex cases, they need to continuously study and improve their knowledge and skills.

* A question of concern is why, although Vietnam has achieved many achievements in medical treatment at international standards such as organ transplants and performing advanced techniques, the degrees after graduation are still not recognized by developed countries as equivalent to their degrees, sir?

- It is true that Vietnam has good doctors and professors, but these are only a very small number of the elites created after a long training process. Besides their personal abilities, these doctors always have the opportunity to study abroad, be guided by good teachers, and have more favorable practice conditions than other colleagues.

In fact, medical training in Vietnam still faces many difficulties, making the overall quality of doctors graduating not as good as in developed countries. In developed countries, medical training requires strict organization and is quite expensive. The selection of input is very strict, the teaching staff must not only have pedagogical and research capacity but also have lecturers with medical expertise.

To become a doctor, students must study many subjects, from basic subjects to different clinical subjects, so it requires the teaching staff to not only be sufficient in quantity and quality but also diverse and have enough specialties. Equipment, simulation models... are also important and quite expensive for students to get used to basic examinations before direct contact with patients with the aim of ensuring patient safety.

Finally, to ensure that the training process runs smoothly, there must always be a system of strict and reasonable policies and regulations at the national level specifically for medical training.

In Vietnam, it is undeniable that for a long time, we have trained a large number of doctors, making an important contribution to people's health care, and in fact the quality of medical examination and treatment at medical facilities has been significantly improved and as I mentioned, we have had achievements on par with the region and the world.

However, to meet the increasing needs of over 100 million people as present, to cope with new disease models, climate change and international integration, it is necessary to innovate the training program for health workers, including medical doctors.

Specifically, for a long time, we focused on providing knowledge to students, but now we have to shift to training that is not simply teaching knowledge but making learners apply that knowledge to solve specific situations, common pathological situations in our country.

Prof. Dr. Le Quang Cuong

* To meet the quality requirements as you just mentioned, some people think that we should import foreign programs. What do you think about this?

- To develop, learning from the experiences of other countries is necessary. However, let's imagine if we want to build a villa in Vietnam that is identical to a foreign villa, but only having the architectural drawings in hand is not enough.

It is necessary to have foreign standard materials, foreign qualified masons, and construction laws that are as favorable as those in foreign countries, this is a huge challenge.

* So, to improve the quality of training, what do you think is the feasible solution?

- Starting from this difficulty, with a loan from the World Bank (WB), since 2015 the Ministry of Health has supported 5 schools (Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy), together with foreign and domestic experts, to gradually innovate the doctor training program towards international integration, but suitable to the circumstances and conditions of Vietnam.

In parallel with supporting the pilot innovation of training programs, the Ministry of Health has consulted and coordinated with relevant ministries to advise on the issuance of many legal documents, creating a legal environment for medical training innovation activities, and most recently, the Medical Council has been established to assess the capacity of newly graduated doctors, as an important basis for granting practice licenses.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy have graduated doctors under this program, the remaining 3 schools will soon have courses graduating under the innovative program. After the 5 schools I just mentioned, other medical schools are also innovating their doctor training programs towards international integration such as VinUni, Hanoi Medical University...

To evaluate a good program, ensuring the quality of doctors when graduating, there are currently 2 ways: The first way: strictly control and evaluate the conditions for opening the major (lecturers, facilities, practice hospitals, etc.). A few countries implement this method, for example the UK and Germany. This is a strict model from the beginning, the training process is periodically evaluated, closely monitored, so the product, the doctor after graduation, will ensure quality.

Many other developed countries rely on the second method: output control. This method allows schools to actively train in their own way (academic freedom), but before practicing, doctors must pass a national exam to assess their abilities, and if they meet (national) standards, they will be granted a license to practice.

Vietnam has included this exam requirement in the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment. With the assessment of capacity, we can ensure that all licensed doctors in the future will have more uniform quality, better meeting the health care needs of the people.

Performed by LAN ANH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/viet-nam-dao-tao-y-khoa-khong-giong-ai-va-lam-gi-de-thay-doi-20250803140744378.htm