Vietnamese citizens spend roughly US$1 billion every year on medical treatment in Singapore, a Health Ministry official said during a meeting on Saturday.

 

Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, the deputy minister added that hospitals in Thailand, South Korea and other countries have also received a lot of Vietnamese patients.

 

Tien said that overseas hospitals have capitalized on strong marketing and good services. But Vietnam’s medical technology is just as good, she said.

 

The ministry plans to develop several high-tech medical centers to provide similar services to medical tourists.

 

During the course of the same meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan endorsed a project to create strategic laboratories for the development of new vaccines and drugs.

 

The same day, Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi broke the ground of a  pediatric oncology and cardiology wing. The 500 bed, VND1.4 trillion (US$) facility is expected to open in 2015.

 

Ho Chi Minh City meanwhile has begun work on a 50-bed chemotherapy clinic at the People’s Hospital 115 and another at the Medicine University Hospital.