After pedagogical students, the Ministry of Health proposed that the Government consider supporting 100% of tuition fees and providing living expenses for medical students in the current context of medical human resource shortage.
In the report of the conference on implementing health work in 2025 held on December 24, the Ministry of Health proposed to the Government to direct research so that medical and pharmaceutical students will receive State support for tuition fees equal to the fees charged by the training institution, and will be provided with living expenses during their studies. This is to attract human resources, when the medical sector is lacking in both quantity and quality.
Students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy in class
According to the Ministry of Health's report, the country has 214 medical human resource training facilities, including 66 universities, 139 vocational training facilities, and 9 doctoral training research institutes (the Ministry of Health manages 22 schools and institutes). The number of doctors graduating in 2023 nationwide is nearly 11,300, pharmacists are nearly 8,500, and nurses are about 18,200. Meanwhile, the scale of Vietnam's medical human resources has increased by 2.33% over the past 10 years. The total number of health workers is currently about 431,700, much lower than the level of 632,500 in the health human resource development plan for the period 2011 - 2020.
If this proposal is followed, along with living expenses, medical and pharmaceutical students will be supported with tuition fees equal to the level charged by the training institution. This level for the 2024-2025 school year currently ranges from over 27 million to nearly 200 million VND depending on the major and school.
SHOULD ONLY BE DONE IN SOME INDUSTRIES AND WITH CONSTRAINTS
Faced with this proposal, representatives of universities that train in health sectors expressed different opinions.
The leader of a private university that trains medical students believes that the State's tuition support for students is a good thing and that it is reasonable to apply it to the education and health sectors in the short term. However, the leader of this university recommends: "This policy should be applied to students studying in fields where human resources are scarce in the health sector. It can be applied equally to students of public and private schools, and after graduation, students are required to perform tasks as assigned by the State. If implemented in this way, it will be effective from training to allocating human resources in the health sector, considering this a form of the State ordering human resource training for the sector."
Supporting this proposal, Prof. Dr. Tran Diep Tuan, Chairman of the Council of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, said: "This tuition exemption policy needs to be implemented in the direction of the State supporting tuition fees at the basic level of training facilities, to ensure training quality". Prof. Dr. Tuan said that when the State has invested in training costs, there should be a plan to effectively use this force after graduation to bring benefits to the health sector in particular and socio-economic development in general. "If it can be done, there should be binding regulations so that students after graduation must have time to serve the health system, from the grassroots to the central level. This is also an opportunity to build a strong grassroots health system based on primary care with the principle of family medicine as the foundation", Prof. Tuan emphasized.
Regarding the scope of application, Professor Tuan said that in the current limited budget conditions, if implemented, priority should be given to sectors such as public health, nursing and midwifery.
Students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy are guided to practice at the hospital.
IMPROVING INCOME INSTEAD OF FREE TUITION
From the perspective of an insider, Dr. TBK (District 4 Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City) supports exempting tuition fees for medical students, but not for all subjects.
Doctor TBK raised the question: "We are talking about a shortage of doctors in terms of quantity and quality. So the question is which fields are lacking and why? When we determine the shortage, for example family medicine and primary health care, we should consider exempting tuition fees for these subjects. Of course, exempting tuition fees comes with the condition that they must work in the required specialty."
Explaining his opinion of not supporting universal tuition exemption for all subjects, Dr. TBK said: "If we study medicine together but after graduation, doctors work in high-income specialties, such as aesthetics, then exempting tuition fees increases the burden on the budget without solving the urgent problem."
Therefore, this doctor recommends: "A person goes to work because of the following factors: income, working environment and the ability to develop professionally. The long-term strategy should be to improve income for the health sector instead of exempting tuition fees. In reality, many doctors accept to work in a different field after graduation because the actual income is higher. It is a huge waste for doctors to work in a different field after graduation."
CREATE CONDITIONS FOR THE POOR TO BORROW MONEY TO GO TO STUDY
The former principal of a public university training in the health sector said: "In the world, there is no place that offers free tuition for medical students, especially for majors with very high training costs. Training costs are high, but students are willing to invest so that after about ten years of graduation, doctors can live comfortably. Along with the status of the profession, high income is one of the important reasons why the medical profession is always attractive to students."
However, this former principal believes that what universities around the world are doing is creating conditions for people in difficult circumstances to borrow money to study. Students can easily borrow money to pay tuition fees with preferential interest rates, and after graduating, go to work to pay off the debt. This is a policy that needs to be implemented more widely, instead of exempting tuition fees and providing living expenses.
Many health majors are exempt from tuition fees and receive living expenses support.
According to the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023, which officially took effect from January 1, 2024, some health majors will be exempted from 100% of tuition fees and supported with living expenses for the entire course.
Specifically, the State has a policy of granting scholarships to encourage learning for students majoring in psychiatry, pathology, forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, infectious diseases and emergency resuscitation whose study and training results meet the conditions for scholarships at training institutions in the State's health sector.
At the same time, provide policy scholarships to students majoring in psychiatry, pathology, forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, infectious diseases and emergency resuscitation who are working at medical examination and treatment facilities in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions and areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions.
The State supports students majoring in psychiatry, pathology, forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, infectious diseases and emergency resuscitation with full tuition fees and living expenses during the entire course if studying at a training institution belonging to the State's health sector; supports tuition fees and living expenses during the entire course corresponding to the above-mentioned levels if studying at a training institution belonging to the private health sector.
Decree 81/2021 of the Government also stipulates tuition-free majors for students including: Ho Chi Minh Thought, Marxism-Leninism, tuberculosis, leprosy, psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, forensic examination, and pathology at public training institutions according to State-ordered quotas.
Tuition exemption and living allowance policy for pedagogical students
The proposal to exempt tuition fees and provide living expenses is not the first time it has been mentioned for the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. Previously, from 2021, tuition fee exemption and living expenses for students in teacher training sectors (pedagogy) were implemented.
According to Decree 116 of the Government on the policy of supporting tuition fees and living expenses for pedagogical students, students majoring in pedagogy who commit to working in the education sector will enjoy tuition fee support policy, and at the same time will receive living expenses support of 3.63 million VND/month from the budget. The support period is calculated based on the actual number of months of study at school but not exceeding 10 months/school year.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/co-nen-mien-hoc-phi-cap-sinh-hoat-phi-cho-sinh-vien-nganh-y-185241226225518924.htm
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