Conditions for foreign investment to set up the general hospitals in Vietnam

Conditions for foreign investment to set up the general hospitals in Vietnam

Conditions for foreign investment to set up the general hospitals in Vietnam:

1. Capital conditions for foreign investment to set up the general hospitals in Vietnam

The minimum investment capital for a commercial presence in hospital services must be at least US$20 million for a hospital.

2. Scale of hospitals:

A general hospital must have at least 30 patient beds;

3. Facilities of hospitals:

a) Depending on the scale of the general hospital, it shall be designed and built into a block building which satisfies the following conditions:
- Departments, rooms and hallways are arranged conveniently for technique expertise under the interconnected and self-contained complex model within the hospital premises; ensure aseptic and environmental sanitation conditions prescribed by law;
- A minimum construction floor area of 50 m2 per patient bed is ensure, the hospital façade is at least 10 m wide.

b) Satisfying the conditions of radiation safety, hospital waste management and fire and explosion prevention according to law.

c) Ensuring the sufficiency of electricity and water supply and other conditions for patient care.

4. Medical equipment of hospitals:

a) Having sufficient medical equipment and instruments suitable to the practice scope of the hospital;

b) Having sufficient vehicles for internal and external emergency transportation Hospitals having no vehicles for external emergency transportation must have transportation contracts signed with healthcare facilities having operation licenses and providing services of emergency transportation.

5. Organization of hospital:

a) Departments:

- There shall be at least 2 of the 4 departments of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and pediatrics, applicable to general hospitals;
- The medical examination department shall have a place for patient reception, emergency and patient stay rooms, consulting rooms and minor surgery rooms (if any minor surgery is carried out);
- The subclinical department shall have at least one unit for testing and one unit for image diagnosis. Particularly, any ophthalmologic hospital having no image diagnosis unit must have a contract concluded with a healthcare facility having an operation license and image diagnosis unit;
- Pharmaceutical department;
- Other specialized departments and sections which must be suitable for the scale, functions and tasks of the hospital.
b) There shall be functional sections of general planning, organization and personnel, quality control, convalescence, finance and accounting and other functional sections.

6. Personnel of hospitals:

a) The number of full-time (tenured) practitioners in each department must account for at least 50% of the total number of practitioners in such department.

b) The number of staff members and title structures and standards shall comply with regulations prescribed by the Minister of Health.

c) Any chief physician of a hospital shall satisfy the following conditions:
- Being a doctor with a practice certificate with practice scope suitable for at least one of medical speciality registered by the hospital;
- Having worked as a healthcare practitioner for at least 54 months. The assignment and appointment of the chief physician of the hospital shall be performed in writing;
- Working on a full-time basis at the hospital.

d) The head of the clinical department must satisfy the following conditions:
- Being a doctor with a practice certificate suitable for the speciality;
- Having worked as a healthcare practitioner in such speciality for at least 54 months. The assignment and appointment of the head of a department shall be carried out in writing;
- Working on a full-time basis at the hospital.

dd) Requirements for heads of subclinical departments:
- Head of the laboratory department: being a doctor or a physician specialized in testing or a chemical or biological bachelor or a pharmacist with a degree of university or higher level and a practice certificate for testing.
A testing physician with a university degree is qualified for read and append his/her signature on the testing results. If the healthcare facility does not have a doctor specialized in testing, the doctor requesting the testing shall make the diagnosis conclusion.
- Requirements for the head of the department of microbiology (applicable to hospitals having departments of microbiology): being a doctor or a physician having a university degree and a practice certificate specialized in microbiology, or a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, biology or pharmacy of university or higher level, applicable to persons employed to conduct medical test before the effective date of this Decree and issued with a certificate of practice in microbiology.
- Requirements for the head of the department ofsurgery (applicable to hospitals having departments of surgery): being a doctor specialized in surgery or having a certificate of training in surgery and practice certificate specialized in surgery.
- Having worked for a suitable laboratory department or a department of microbiology or a department of surgery for at least 54 months or having worked as a practitioner specialized in testing or microorganism or surgery for at least 36 months, including the period of post-graduation study in such specialities, from the day on which his/her job relevant to testing, microorganism or surgery starts (determined from the time on which the labor contract is signed or the recruitment decision is issued) to the day on which he/she is assigned or appointed to be the chief physician of the department.
- Working on a full-time basis in the hospital.

e) Requirements for heads of departments of image diagnosis or X-ray departments:
- The lead of a department of image diagnosis must be a doctor having a practice certificate specialized in image diagnosis and having conducted medical examination and treatment in image diagnosis for at least 54 months or having practiced image diagnosis for at least 36 months, including the period of post-graduation study in such speciality, from the day on which his/her job relevant to image diagnosis starts (determined from the time on which the labor contract is signed or the recruitment decision is issued) to the day on which he/she is assigned or appointed to be the chief physician of the department;
- The lead of an X-ray department must be a doctor having a university or higher level degree, apractice certificate and having conducted medical examination and treatment involving X-ray for at least 54 months or having practiced X-ray speciality for at least 36 months, including the period of post-graduation study in such speciality, from the day on which his/her job relevant to X-ray(determined from the time on which the labor contract is signed or the recruitment decision is issued) to the day on which he/she is assigned or appointed to be the chief physician of the department. An X-ray bachelor (of university level) may read and describe the diagnosis images but must not make diagnosis conclusions;
- If the healthcare facility does not have a doctor specialized in image diagnosis or X-ray doctor, the doctor requesting the image diagnosis shall make the diagnosis conclusion;
- Working on a full-time basis in the hospital.

g) The lead of the Pharmaceutical department must be a person working full-time at the hospital and must satisfy law provisions on pharmacy;

h) Leads of other departments who are not required practice certificates must fulfill the following conditions:
- Having a university degree and having worked in such speciality for at least 36 months from the day on which the degree is issued to the day on which he/she is assigned/appointed to be the department”s lead. The assignment and appointment of the head of a department shall be carried out in writing;
- Working on a full-time basis in the hospital.

i) Apart from entities specified in points c, d, dd, e, g and h of this clause, any other entity working at the hospital who conducts medical examination and treatment must have a practice certificate and must conduct medical examination and treatment within the assigned scope of task. The assignment must be made in writing and conform with the practice scope written on the practice certificate;

k) There must be persons taking charge of radiation safety (if the facility uses radiological equipment with radiation sources, radiopharmaceuticals used in healthcare and equipment used in radiological medicine).

7. Apart from requirements specified in this Article, any hospital conducting check-up and issuing Health certificates must satisfy the following requirements:

a) Personnel:

- A person in charge of making check-up conclusions must be a doctor having a healthcare practice certificate and having conducted medical examination and treatment for at least 54 months and assigned by a competent person of the healthcare facility to make check-up conclusions, append signatures on health certificates and periodic health check records. The assignment shall be carried out in writing.
- Apart for the abovementioned conditions, any healthcare facility conducting check-up for foreigners or overseas Vietnamese citizens and Vietnamese citizens working overseas on contract or studying abroad (hereinafter referred to as health-check facility involving foreign elements) must satisfy the following requirements:
+ The persons conducting clinic examination and persons making check-up conclusions must be level I medical specialists or masters of medicine or resident physicians or persons with higher educational level;
+ If the persons providing check-up and persons receiving check-up are not proficient in the same language, a translator is required. The translator must have a certificate of eligibility for making translation in healthcare activities as prescribed in Article 18 of  Decree 109/2016/ND-CP;

b) Professional requirements:
- For health-check facilities without foreign elements: having sufficient clinic departments, including rooms for internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, obstetrics, optics, otorhinolaryngology, odontostomatology and dermatology and subclinical departments, including X-ray rooms and laboratories.
- For healthcare facilities involving foreign elements, apart from the abovementioned conditions, the following subclinical techniques must be carried out:
+ Blood testing: blood formula, ABO blood type, Rh blood type, rate of blood sedimentation, hemoglobin rate and rate of uremia;
+ Finding of plasmodium in blood;
+ Testing for A, B, C and E hepatitis;
+ Serological test for syphilis;
+ HIV test;
+ Mantoux reaction test;
+ Pregnancy test;
+ Drug test;
+ Fecal screening for parasites;
+ Electrocardiogram measurement;
+ Electroencephalography measurement;
+ Supersonic test;
+ Diagnostic tests for leprosy.
If the facility is not eligible for carrying out an HIV test, a diagnostic tests for leprosy and an EEGmeasurement, it must conclude a professional support contract with a healthcare facility having an operation license and eligible for performing such technique.
- For healthcare facility performing driver health check, apart from the requirements applied to healthcare facilities without foreign element, the following subclinical techniques must be carried out:
+ EEG measurement;
+ Visual-field measurement;
+ Testing for determination of blood alcohol concentration and breath alcohol concentration;
+ Drug tests and psychotropic substance tests.
If the facility performing driver health check is not eligible for conducting an EEG measurement or a visual-field measurement, it must conclude a professional support contract with a healthcare facility having an operation license and eligible for performing such technique.

c) Facilities: having medical equipment and instruments suitable for the professional activities and the check-up contents.

d) Any healthcare facility conducting check-up must apply for declaration of eligibility for performing check-up according to regulations in clause 8 Article 43 and clauses 4 and 5 Article 44 of Decree 109/2016/ND-CP when it has been issued with an operation license.

Source: Decree No.109/2016/ND-CP

LAWYER VIETNAM LAW FIRM