What does the Ministry of Health say about removing health certificates when issuing driver's licenses?

Recently, the Minister of Health issued Decision No. 295 "On promulgating newly issued and abolished administrative procedures within the scope and management functions of the Ministry of Health.

Among the 12 administrative procedures abolished are procedures for issuing health certificates for drivers, periodic health examinations for car drivers, health examinations for seafarers, etc.

However, many people have argued that abolishing this administrative procedure means there is no need for a medical examination before taking a driving test.

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Health said that, implementing the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 and Decree No. 96 dated December 30, 2023 of the Government "Detailing a number of articles of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment", on December 31, 2023, the Minister of Health issued Circular No. 32 "Detailing a number of articles of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment".

Pursuant to Circular No. 02 dated October 31, 2017 of the Government Office "Guidelines on administrative procedure control", dated February 6, 2024, the Minister of Health issued Decision No. 295 "On promulgating newly issued and abolished administrative procedures within the scope and management functions of the Ministry of Health as prescribed in Circular No. 32 of the Minister of Health detailing a number of articles of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment" specifically:

Policy - What does the Ministry of Health say about removing health certificates when issuing driver's licenses? — There is no such thing as skipping the medical examination when taking the driving test.

In Decision No. 295, 12 administrative procedures were abolished, including 9 administrative procedures from No. 01 to No. 09, specifically:

"1. Issuing Health Certificates to crew members working on Vietnamese seagoing vessels according to the standards specified in Appendix I.

2. Issue Health Certificates to crew members working on Vietnamese seagoing vessels according to health standards in Appendix I but suffering from one or more diseases or disabilities specified in Appendix II.

3. Periodic health check-ups for crew members working on Vietnamese ships.

4. Issue health certificate to driver.

5. Periodic health check-ups for car drivers.

6. Issue health certificates to people aged 18 and over.

7. Issue health certificates to people under 18 years old.

8. Issue health certificates to people who have lost civil capacity, have no civil capacity or have limited civil capacity.

9. Regular health check-ups".

The Ministry of Health affirmed that the above 9 procedures are not administrative procedures but professional processes and techniques implemented by medical staff according to the assigned functions and tasks to be implemented according to the provisions of Clause 20, Article 2, Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023: "Health examination" is a medical examination to determine health status, classify health or detect and manage diseases.

In Decision No. 295, administrative procedure No. 10: "Announcing facilities qualified to conduct driver health examinations under the authority of the Ministry of Health and other ministries and branches" and administrative procedure No. 11: "Announcing facilities qualified to conduct driver health examinations under the authority of the Department of Health" were abolished because they were stipulated in Decision No. 159 dated January 18, 2024 of the Ministry of Health "On the announcement of newly issued administrative procedures, replaced and abolished administrative procedures within the scope and management functions of the Ministry of Health as prescribed in the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15 dated January 9, 2023 and Decree No. 96 "Detailing a number of articles of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment" (Administrative procedure No. 15 in the newly issued administrative procedure section).

The Ministry of Health requests the Heads of the Departments of Health of 63 provinces and centrally run cities; Hospitals and Institutes under the Ministry of Health; Hospitals under Universities; Ministry and sectoral health agencies to disseminate, thoroughly understand, guide and inspect organizations and individuals under their management authority to strictly implement the provisions of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023; Decree No. 96; Circular No. 32; Joint Circular No. 24 dated August 21, 2015; Circular No. 22... and related regulations in implementing health examination and issuance of health certificates in general .

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