Vietnam Proposes Overhaul of Six Health Laws to Curb Inflated Drug and Equipment Prices

Price controls would follow medical supplies from import to patient

Vietnam is proposing to connect import records, distributor information and hospital purchase prices under an overhaul of six health laws presented to the National Assembly on October 21, 2026. The aim is to make inflated prices easier to detect, including when medicines or equipment pass through several companies before reaching a hospital.

Health Minister Dao Hong Lan presented the bill on behalf of the prime minister during the second session of the 16th National Assembly. Its eight articles would amend the laws on Children, Persons with Disabilities, Medical Examination and Treatment, Pharmacy, the Elderly, and Health Insurance.

Article 113 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment is central to the equipment proposals. Businesses would face requirements to publish prices and distribution information, while authorities would share data across health, customs, tax, procurement and health insurance systems. The government also proposes banning sales of medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients through livestreams.

The proposals come amid concern about inflated prices in a case involving Viet My Medical Investment Joint Stock Company. Permanent Deputy Health Minister Vu Manh Ha said authorities had received information that some drug and equipment prices were being increased before the goods entered Vietnam, compared with prices abroad.

Patients have a direct stake in the changes. Higher procurement costs put pressure on hospital resources and the health insurance fund. Lawmakers are also seeking clearer protection for insured patients who choose services priced separately by hospitals, so they retain the insurance payment to which they are entitled.

The National Assembly heard the government's submission and the reviewing committee's assessment on October 21. No final vote date or complete implementation timetable was given.

Why import and hospital prices need to be connected

The Ministry of Health's policy impact assessment describes a large market dependent on overseas suppliers. By August 2023, about 294,430 medical equipment items were distributed in Vietnam, with approximately 92% imported. The remaining share was about 8%, meaning imported items outnumbered domestic items by roughly 11.5 to one. Equipment using advanced technology was almost entirely imported.

Customs records are therefore an important starting point, but the ministry wants authorities to follow prices beyond the border. Ha said investigating transactions arranged through intermediaries abroad requires cooperation among health, finance, tax, customs and other agencies.

Importers are responsible for declaring accurate customs values. Equipment prices are subsequently affected by distribution, procurement and the services supplied with a product. Connecting those stages would allow authorities to compare the declared import value with listed prices, actual sales and hospital procurement results.

Current equipment price data come mainly from tendering at public healthcare facilities. Private facilities do not fall under the same tendering mechanism, leaving regulators with an incomplete picture of market transactions. National Assembly deputy Nguyen Ngoc Son proposed publishing actual transaction prices and winning tender prices for commonly used equipment.

The ministry's assessment also explains why meaningful comparisons require more than matching product names. Model, configuration, accessories, software, delivery conditions, warranties and technical support can all affect a purchase price. A useful database would need enough detail to show what each buyer actually received.

Equipment oversight would continue throughout its working life

The proposed Article 113 would cover equipment from classification, research, manufacturing and testing through registration, import, distribution, advertising and use. Oversight would continue through recalls and disposal. This is management across a product's life cycle: keeping track of an item throughout its existence rather than checking it only when it enters the market.

Under Decree 98/2021/ND-CP, equipment is classified into four risk categories, A, B, C and D. Businesses make their own declarations for categories A and B, while the Ministry of Health issues circulation numbers for categories C and D. These numbers identify products authorized for circulation.

The draft would make equipment businesses, including circulation number holders, legally responsible for the legality, safety and quality of the products they supply. Distribution information would help authorities identify official suppliers and locate equipment when a safety warning, repair or recall becomes necessary.

Price disclosures would be accompanied by information supporting traceability, technical features, intended use and instructions in Vietnamese. The ministry's earlier assessment also proposed allowing direct purchases and imports from foreign manufacturers with a representative office or responsible contact in Vietnam, while retaining distribution services that provide practical value, such as maintenance and technical support.

Public prices would come with limits on repeated paperwork

Equipment businesses would publish listed prices, update price information and disclose relevant distributors through the medical equipment data system. The proposal would allow price changes within a government prescribed range without requiring a fresh price declaration each time.

Nguyen Dac Vinh, chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Social Affairs, said the committee broadly supported the equipment provisions. It recommended flexible price ranges suited to different equipment groups and types, with reporting duties balanced against the cost of compliance.

The committee also sought rules defining who may access different parts of the database. Businesses would have disclosure obligations, while commercially sensitive information would need protection. Manufacturers and healthcare facilities should have clearer responsibilities, and the new rules should fit existing price, procurement and customs legislation.

The ministry's September policy assessment considered publishing maximum selling prices declared by businesses and information on expected price differences or profits within defined limits. Those ideas formed part of the policy development process; the October submission focused on price disclosure, declarations, traceability and connected data.

The ministry says all online public services in the equipment field are already available from application to completion. Import, distribution, price, procurement and usage records, however, are not yet fully standardized or connected. Son called for a firm deadline to put the linked database into operation, turning the proposed information requirements into a tool hospitals can actually use.

Drug prices would be disclosed faster, with scrutiny of exceptions

The Pharmacy Law amendments would add rules on declaring expected wholesale prices, determining those prices and sharing pharmaceutical data. Ha said manufacturers and importers already have to announce expected wholesale prices for prescription medicines, and wholesalers may not sell above the announced level.

The ministry compares those figures with similar medicines and procurement results for the same drug. Winning drug tender prices are published through Vietnam Social Security and the national procurement system. Ha said national centralized purchasing and price negotiations had saved nearly VND6 trillion, although he did not specify the period covered.

The bill would let a company sell at its declared price once the regulator receives its filing. The Ministry of Health plans to develop company accounts through which businesses can publish and update information and prices themselves. Documents already accessible through national databases would also require less repeated submission.

Son raised concern about a proposed exception allowing expected wholesale prices to be announced after the first batch has been sold in circumstances defined by the government. He recommended putting the governing principles into the law, limiting such treatment to situations including rare medicines, shortages or threatened shortages, emergency care and disease control.

The ministry also plans to expand centralized purchasing and negotiations for medicines widely used in healthcare facilities. For equipment, it is studying similar approaches for suitable groups, particularly expensive products, products used by many hospitals and products available from a single supplier.

Biological medicines, advertising and livestream sales

The government proposes removing the requirement that a reference biological product must already be licensed in Vietnam. A reference product is the medicine used as the benchmark when assessing a similar biological medicine. Biological medicines are made using living organisms or biological processes.

Under the proposal, the reference product could be licensed in any country, provided sufficient quality, safety and effectiveness data were available. The government also describes accepting comparative clinical data involving reference products licensed in Vietnam or in countries with stringent medicines regulators.

The Ministry of Health says the change could widen access to biological treatments for cancer, anemia, chronic hepatitis B and C, inherited hemophilia and chronic autoimmune diseases, including corresponding treatments currently unavailable domestically. Ha also identified technology transfer for domestic production of original branded medicines and biological medicines as a supply priority.

A separate Pharmacy Law provision would prohibit selling medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients through livestreams. Drug advertising approval would be delegated more widely to local authorities, with the reviewing committee seeking a way to track applications rejected in one locality and then submitted elsewhere.

Vinh's committee called for a connected pharmaceutical database that includes prices. Recording advertising decisions alongside other regulatory information would help local authorities see earlier decisions when reviewing a new submission from the same business.

Insured patients seek clarity over optional hospital services

The proposed changes to Article 110 would give public healthcare facilities authority to set prices for services supplied at a patient's request. Prices for other services would remain under the authority of the health minister or provincial People's Councils.

The bill would also replace separate price proposal files from individual facilities with prices applied by professional and technical level. The government says this would reduce administrative work for healthcare facilities and regulators.

Vinh's committee wants the law to state clearly that an insured patient choosing a service on request still receives payment for the portion covered by health insurance, at the applicable benefit level. Son supported that protection and said patients should pay the difference, with prices disclosed and their choice entirely voluntary.

Son said voters had described patients being steered toward services on request, especially at overcrowded hospitals. An explicit insurance rule would help patients understand their bill: the fund would pay the covered entitlement, while the patient would pay the additional amount associated with the chosen service.

The Health Insurance Law amendments would also align coverage rules with Vietnam's local government system of two levels and revised categories of healthcare facilities. Proposed changes to Article 22 address payment of 100% of covered costs at specified facilities providing initial care, including health stations and facilities practicing family medicine.

Licensing changes matter for remote communities and care facilities

Article 48 would be revised to reduce overlapping business conditions and make operating licenses more flexible. The government would set detailed arrangements for renewing or adjusting licenses issued before March 1, 2027, to maintain continuity of services.

Quang Tri deputy Nguyen Khanh Vu warned that proposed restrictions on inpatient treatment could affect public regional clinics in mountainous areas. He said some communes are more than 100 kilometers from a central service location, and requiring admission to a distant hospital would add travel and caregiving costs, especially for children and people with chronic illnesses.

Vu proposed allowing public regional clinics already providing inpatient care to continue if they maintain professional staff on duty around the clock. His concern was that permission to keep operating under an existing license should expressly address continued inpatient treatment.

The reviewing committee identified two other policy changes requiring fuller explanation: recognition of foreign medical practice licenses and removal of the procedure for applying new medical techniques and methods. Vinh said these had not been explained in Submission No. 825 or its accompanying justification, leaving the committee without sufficient grounds for assessment.

Children's services and facilities caring for older people and people with disabilities would also face changes to administrative requirements. The committee asked for careful review of repealing Articles 56 and 57 and revising Articles 58 and 59 of the Law on Children, alongside safeguards to maintain supervision when inspections before licensing are removed.

Administrative deadlines and a separate transplant debate

The bill would make the Ministry of Health the lead government body for older people's affairs, replacing the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Amendments concerning people with disabilities would update responsibilities following administrative restructuring and align provisions with employment, vocational education and digital transformation legislation.

Ha identified an approaching legal deadline behind the package. Provisions in two decrees governing decentralization and delegated authority are valid only until February 28, 2027, under National Assembly Resolution 190/2025/QH15. The ministry wants permanent legislation to carry those responsibilities forward.

The legislative work has developed across several stages:

• August 20, 2026: The government issued Resolution 245/NQ-CP on the draft law.
• September 17: The equipment policy assessment under Justice Ministry review described proposals for traceability, price transparency and fewer unnecessary intermediaries.
• October 14: The Health Ministry met relevant agencies to finalize responses to government members' comments.
• October 21: Lan presented the bill, and lawmakers examined its provisions and the committee's assessment.
• February 28, 2027: The temporary decentralization provisions cited by the ministry reach their expiry date.

Lan also presented a separate bill on human tissue and organ donation, removal and transplantation, and donation and recovery of human cadavers. Its seven chapters and 39 articles seek to expand donation, prevent illegal trading and support treatment involving tissues, cells and related products.

The ministry put the current transplant donor split at 91.4% living donors and 8.6% donors declared brain dead. Vinh's committee called for careful safeguards around family consent and potential pressure involving donors under 18. The consent debate is proceeding alongside the six law package, with both reviews focused on protecting people as procedures change.

Key Points

• An eight article bill would amend six Vietnamese laws covering healthcare, insurance and care services.
• Equipment oversight would connect product identity, suppliers, prices and records across public agencies.
• Lawmakers want actual transaction data, practical reporting rules and protection for sensitive business information.
• Drug proposals include faster price disclosure, broader biological medicine registration options and a ban on livestream sales.
• The reviewing committee wants explicit insurance protection for patients choosing services on request.
• Remote clinic access, care facility supervision and temporary rules expiring in February 2027 remain central issues in the legislative review.