Vietnam is utterly resolute in its plan to scale up the number of facilities that provide voluntary and diversified services of treatment to 200,000 drug addicts by 2020.
Giving medical check-up to a drug addict (Source: VNA)
HCM City (VNA)🎉 - Despite difficulties in its implementation, Vietnam is utterly resolute in its plan to scale up the number of facilities that provide voluntary and diversified services of treatment to 200,000 drug addicts by 2020.
“Our principle is to use many different methods of drug addiction treatment, but aiming toward voluntary treatment,” Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Trong Dam said at conference to collect opinions for a draft of a decree on voluntary treatment for addicts held late last week.
Addicts, who are brought to establishments providing compulsory treatment, fail in voluntary community-based treatment, Dam said.
The push to boost drug rehabilitation solutions comes amid several recent high-profile escapes by patients at compulsory rehab facilities. Last month, about 600 patients broke out of a facility in Dong Nai province. Government authorities said some facilities suffer from overcrowding, a lack of staff and poor conditions.
Dam said that many provinces and cities focus on bringing addicts to compulsory facilities and when these facilities become degraded over time, "escaping is unavoidable."
He instructed them to carefully select which addicts should receive community-based treatment and which ones should go to compulsory facilities.
The government has sought to diversify treatment services and scale up voluntary treatment in community to reduce compulsory treatment, he added.
Regarding the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affair’s plan for the development of rehabilitation establishments for drug addicts from now to 2020, the number of rehabilitation facilities that provide compulsory treatment for addicts will be reduced to 71 by 2020, and will serve just 20,000 addicts from 67,000 in 2015.
The plan aims to convert the remaining 52 rehabilitation facilities which provide compulsory treatment into those which provide voluntary treatment.
Thirty private rehabilitation facilities providing voluntary treatment are expected to be built by 2020. About 22 private establishments have been provided licences during the last 14 years.
The ministry plans to issue new regulations on voluntary treatment to make it more effective. The draft regulations were collected opinions from relevant agencies at provinces and cities at the conference.-VNA
A workshop was held in Hanoi on Feb. 25 to launch a United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) - funded project for the treatment of drug use and health-related effects.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged people from all walks of life to fully realise the devastating effects of drugs as a proportion of them have so far perceived ambiguously the danger of the addictive substance, especially methamphetamine.
The head of Ho Chi Minh City's Psychological Hospital has recommended that drug addicts be given mental-health therapy after they complete detoxification services.
The Prime Minister has requested ministries, sectors and People’s Committees at municipal and provincial levels carry out drug prevention action month in June 2015.
Vietnam now boasts a nationwide healthcare network with 1,665 hospitals, 384 of which are non-public, supported by local commune- and ward-level stations. At the end of 2024, hospital bed capacity reached 34 per 10,000 people, slightly above the global average.
The 56-year-old patient from Quang Tri province was discharged in stable condition as he no longer experienced shortness of breath and was able to walk, move around, and eat normally.
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Vu Trung, Director of the Pasteur Institute, said that under the MoU, the two sides committed to promoting diverse and practical collaborative activities, including joint conferences and workshops, exchanges of scholars, researchers and students, sharing academic materials, and the development of specific programmes and projects in scientific research, training, and epidemic prevention.
TytoCare, a leading Israeli telemedicine company based in Netanya, is willing to work with Vietnamese regulators, insurers, and healthcare providers to develop a sustainable digital health ecosystem.
The partnership is under the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding on the development and implementation of the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control, signed in Hanoi on July 22.
An estimated 7 million Vietnamese are currently living with diabetes, but about 50% remain undiagnosed, a dangerous gap that is fuelling serious, preventable complications and increasing the burden on the healthcare system.
In 2024, Vietnam achieved 99% coverage for the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine, up from 80% in 2023. Immunisation coverage in the country has not only rebounded to the high levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic but has now surpassed the rates recorded in 2019.
Health authorities in HCM City have issued an urgent alert after six people died from dengue fever, amid a spike in infections driven by the onset of the rainy season.
During the peak months of July and August 2025, the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) needs at least 90,000 units of blood to supply 180 hospitals in the northern region. However, despite continuous efforts, the reserve blood is still short of 30,000 units.
The Hanoi ceremony highlighted efforts to ensure all citizens, especially women and youth, can access accurate information and healthcare services to make informed reproductive choices.
After such a long time, the law has revealed many limitations, prompting the Ministry of Health (MoH) to gather opinions to amend the law to give more chances to thousands of patients every year.
Currently, cardiovascular specialists from the 108 Military Central Hospital are working alongside a team of Prof.Dr. Jan D. Schmitto, Deputy Director of MHH’s Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery on clinical trials for MCS devices, implanted in heart failure patients either as a bridge to transplantation or as permanent treatment.
The centre not only serves residents living on the island, but also receives tens of thousands of visitors every year, according to Assoc Prof Dr Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the HCM CIty Department of Health.
Not only does Vietnam attract international tourists with its landscapes, culture, and cuisine, but it is also gradually becoming a reliable destination for medical treatment, offering high-quality services at reasonable costs.
Over the past six months, 150 communal health stations in provinces including Ha Giang, Bac Kan, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Tay Ninh, Hau Giang, Ben Tre and Ca Mau have been equipped with information technology systems. In addition, 117 key provincial healthcare workers have received training, with thousands more expected to follow.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Ministry of Health swiftly launched a telemedicine programme, connecting more than 1,000 medical establishments nationwide. The model, which remains in operation, has benefited tens of thousands of patients, including foreign nationals.
After more than three weeks of intensive treatment, the patient's pneumonia improved, breathing stabilised, sedation was reduced, and the breathing tube was removed. He is now conscious, able to eat orally, and in recovery.
Giving medical check-up to a drug addict (Source: VNA)
