Critical Infrastructure Demands for Local Clinics On the morning of May 18, 2026, a delegation from the Ministry of Health, led by Minister Dao Hong Lan, conducted a working session with the Department of Health of Dong Nai Province. During the meeting, the Minister noted that the ongoing acceleration of decentralization across key sectors—including medical treatment, food safety, and pharmaceutical management—places substantial pressure on local governance. Consequently, upgrading organizational frameworks and enhancing the capacity of grassroots networks, particularly commune health stations, is vital to maintaining regulatory discipline and addressing initial community healthcare needs.
To reinforce local medical networks, the Ministry of Health is executing a series of systematic measures, which include:
-
Gradually transitioning commune clinics into public service unit models.
-
Formulating distinct personnel recruitment policies and increasing allowances for grassroots medical workers.
-
Allocating resources from the National Target Program for the 2026-2035 period (totaling approximately 125,000 billion VND) dedicated to repairing, constructing, and equipping commune-level health stations.
Current Operations and Strategic Directives for Dong Nai Province According to the Dong Nai Department of Health, the local healthcare sector has maintained stable operations following administrative consolidation and the implementation of a two-tier local governance model. Key performance metrics, clinical capabilities, and administrative processing efficiency (with a 99.03% on-time file resolution rate recorded since July 1, 2025) have shown positive trends.
Looking forward, the Minister of Health directed Dong Nai authorities to prioritize two operational guidelines:
-
Procurement and Bidding Protocols: Local authorities must avoid delegating full drug and medical equipment bidding responsibilities to commune-level units that lack adequate management capacity. Instead, centralized procurement through the provincial Department of Health must be sustained to ensure strict legal compliance
-
Periodic Health Screenings: The province needs to categorize target populations effectively, ensuring that vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and impoverished citizens, receive priority access to routine examinations.