Health ministry officials are disappointed that tax incentives haven’t lured more private investors into the health care sector.

Healthcare sector faces staff shortage

Hi-tech treatment booms in Vietnam

Private hospitals on the increase

There are over 70 foreign-invested projects in the health sector, totaling nearly $1 billion of registered capital, according to a report at a HCM City conference on attracting investment and promoting public-private cooperation in the health sector on May 26.

A representative of the Health Ministry’s Financial Planning Department said that beside the public healthcare system, Vietnam’s private healthcare facilities now total 30,000 clinics and 102 hospitals (four are foreign-invested) with a total of 5400 beds in 29 provinces and cities.

Standards at state-owned healthcare facilities lag considerably behind some other Southeast Asian countries. Spending for development accounts for merely 10 percent of the nation’s total spending for healthcare.

Around 30,000 Vietnamese go abroad for healthcare, spending more than $1 billion a year on a new form of tourism dubbed travel-healthcare.

Twenty-five out of 39 foreign-invested pharmaceutical projects have become operational, with combined registered capital of over $300 million. However, none of these involve manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

The Health Ministry explained that Vietnam has liberalized investment rules in the health sector. Investors in this area enjoy incentive tax rates. However, capital flows into the sector are still modest.

A speaker from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a unit of the World Bank, said that to improve the attractiveness of Vietnam’s healthcare market, Vietnam needs to develop a private health insurance network, improve the training of health workers and enhance the transparency of policies.

PV