Medical Practice Regulations for Foreigners in Vietnam

Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 40/2009/QH12, guided by Decree No. 109/2016/ND-CP stipulating foreigners and oversea Vietnamese citizens (collectively referred to as “foreigners”) who directly provide medical examination and treatment to Vietnamese people, they must be fluent in Vietnamese. If they do not know Vietnamese fluently, they must register the language they are fluent in and have an appropriate interpreter. This regulation is creating favorable conditions to attract many excellent experts from abroad to practice medicine in Vietnam.

Before being granted a medical practice certificate in Vietnam, a foreigner needs to meet the conditions for using the language as mentioned above.

Foreigners are recognized to know Vietnamese without taking the Vietnamese language proficiency test when they have one of the following diplomas or certificates granted within 5 years, up to the date of application submission:

• A diploma of intermediate level in medicine or higher in which the language used in the training process is Vietnamese.
• Certificate of completion of medical training courses with a minimum training period of 12 months or more, and the language used in the training process is Vietnamese.
• A university degree with a major in Vietnamese, granted by a lawful Vietnamese or foreign training institution.

Foreigners need to contact a qualified educational institution to carry out the procedures for granting a certificate of proficiency in Vietnamese or a certificate of interpreters qualified for the translation language that the practitioner registers to use in medical examination and treatment. An educational institution has the right to organize an exam to test and recognize Vietnamese proficiency or use of another language or to be qualified as an interpreter in medical examination and treatment when fully meeting the following conditions:

1. Is a medical university of Vietnam;
2. Have a foreign language department or subject in one of the following languages: English, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean;
3. Have a bank of exam questions to test and recognize Vietnamese proficiency or proficiency in other languages or qualified as an interpreter in medical examination and treatment.

Currently, in the 4th session, the XV National Assembly is discussing proposition of Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended), We will update relevant regulations when the Law is passed.

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Note: This article is for informational purposes only and it is not a legal advice. The content of the article represents its own of TTVN Legal, it subject to change without prior notice.