Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Health launched a grassroots health informationmanagement app, a social network, and an individual health record platform onDecember 30 as part of its Ehealth Vietnam Summit 2020 held in Hanoi.

The V20 app is expected to completely transform nearly12,000 health clinics nationwide. Paperwork, which used to cost theseestablishments 50 to 70 percent of their total working time for making reports,will be managed on a single app starting January 2021.

The Vietnamese health network, the first social network ofthe sector, meanwhile, aims to boost connection, sharing, and support thetraining of more than 500,000 medical staff across the nation. The ministryrequires each upper-level doctor to make friends and assist four doctors at theprovincial level, four health workers at the district level and two healthworkers at the commune level.

The platform, meanwhile, was built for a life-time managementof each person from the womb, birth, to death. It will link together the dataof all medical facilities involved and of the Vietnam Social Security in a bidto form a national health treatment database.

"Digital transformation in the medical sector includesthe comprehensive application of information technology, with a special focuson modern digital technologies, leading to a positive change in all medicalactivities of the health sector. We do not set a target on quantity but themain goal is to better serve the people, to access more convenient andhigh-quality medical services," said Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Longat the event.

Long said that despite having to fight the COVID-19pandemic, the health sector still has made efforts in digital transformationand has gained encouraging results in the past year.

In the administrative field, 100 percent of procedures wereprovided with online public services at level 4, while 100 percent of documentsat the health ministry have been processed online and applied digitalsignatures. The ministry will also operate an application for tracking theprogress and handling bottlenecks in processing.

“In the future, we commit to cut 30 percent ofadministrative procedures to create better conditions for people andbusinesses,” said Long.

In November, the Ministry of Health also launched themedical public portal that publicises all medical services provided by thehealth sector. At the moment, people can access and monitor over 62,000pharmaceutical products, more than 17,000 pieces of medical equipment andmaterials, more than 93,000 bidding results and prices for medical servicesannounced by more than 1,400 medical facilities.

In the near future, the health ministry will publicise allretail pharmaceuticals and supplement food prices, helping people easily lookup drug prices and compare prices at stores for the most suitable choice.

Information technology has also contributed greatly to help Vietnamcontrol the pandemic. Vietnam is also one of the first countries to applyelectronic medical declarations, Bluezone tracing applications and COVID-19safety maps.

“Up to now, Vietnam is one of the most successful nations inthe fight against COVID-19 using the most economical and effectivemodels," said the Minister of Health.

Vietnam has launched a remote health examination andtreatment network with more than 1,500 medical facilities, helping patients atlower levels access quality services by doctors of upper levels. By 2025, 100percent of the country’s medical facilities will participate in the network,including private health facilities.

Regarding personal electronic health records, the Ministryof Health has cooperated with the Vietnam Social Security to establish nearly98 million health records with 42 professional specialties for outpatients.Electronic personal health records will be applied for all outpatients fromJuly next year, according to the minister.

“The goal of the health sector is to build a smart healthsystem. Health facilities spend time on medical examination and treatment, notfor procedures and paperwork,” added Long.


In his speech at the summit, Deputy Prime Minister Vu DucDam praised the efforts of the Health Ministry and its collaboration with otherministries and sectors in its IT application process.

He recommended the sector to promote innovative methods, payattention to a legal framework, policy and finance serving the work, and speedup the building of an automatic health consultation system for people.

The development of remote health examination and treatmentas well as digital personal health records are also key tasks, Dam added.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hungsaid that his ministry committed to accompany the Ministry of Health in thedigital transformation journey.

Vietnam has a strong force of digital technology businesses,with nearly 60,000 businesses and over 1 million employees, ready to solve mostof the problems of the health sector, Hung said./.