Inheriting and promoting its 80-year tradition of construction, combat support, combat, and development, the Military Medical Sector of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) continues drastically innovating and building itself into a regular and modern force to meet its mission requirements in the new situation.

Throughout the 80-year journey (16 April 1946 - 16 April 2026), thanks to the leadership of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND), as well as the shelter and assistance of the people, the Military Medical Sector has continuously developed robustly, excellently fulfilling the task of treating wounded and sick soldiers, caring for and protecting the health of troops and the people, recording many glorious achievements, making great contributions to the development of the nation’s medicine and the cause of national liberation, construction, and protection.

Gen. Phan Van Giang inspects a Medical Team for Nuclear Radiation Emergency Response under the Military Institute of Medical Radiology and Oncology

During the two resistance wars against French colonialists and US imperialists, although equipment and means were extremely limited, military medical officers and employees promoted the spirit of self-reliance, surmounting numerous hardships, closely accompanying troops on the fiercest and most arduous battlefields, promptly providing first aid and treatment to millions of wounded and sick soldiers and civilians, minimising mortality and disability rates, maintaining the combat strength of the VPA.

After national reunification, the Military Medical Sector took the lead in settling the consequences of war, coping with various sequelae for wounded and sick soldiers, continuously improving the quality of military medical support for the entire VPA to successfully fulfil training, combat readiness, and unexpected missions. In recent years, the Sector has given advice on and directly implemented numerous breakthrough programmes and projects to build human resources and comprehensively raise the quality of health care and protection for troops and the people. The military medical force has developed strongly in terms of organisation, personnel, equipment, and professional expertise; the capacity and quality of medical examination and treatment at all levels have witnessed new progress. Strategic- and campaign-level military hospitals have adopted and mastered many advanced specialised medical techniques on a par with global standards, such as organ transplantation, interventional cardiology, endoscopic surgery, microsurgery, and nuclear medicine, thereby affirming their position within the national healthcare system.

With the motto “universal medical care at grass-roots level, specialised treatment at senior levels” and “on-the-spot doctors and medicine”, the Sector has closely combined traditional medicine with modern medicine and effectively conducted the work of preventive medicine, thereby greatly contributing to sustaining the rate of healthy troops across the entire VPA at over 98.5%. Notably, during the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 23,000 military medical officers, cadets, and employees served on the frontline, treating more than 30,000 patients. The Sector has always played a core and pioneering role in realising the Party’s strategic policy of combining military and civilian medicine, actively taking part in building and strengthening the grass-roots healthcare system, providing medical examination and treatment for the people, conducting search and rescue, and addressing the consequences of natural disasters, thus contributing to bolstering the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new period and building a firm “people’s hearts and minds posture”. Vietnam’s military medical force has actively participated in international humanitarian assistance and United Nations peacekeeping missions. Through these activities, the image of the country and people of Vietnam and the noble image of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” have been spread among international friends.

In the coming period, the tasks of VPA building, national defence consolidation, and Fatherland protection will enter a new stage of development, while more demanding requirements will be imposed on the work of protecting and caring for the health of troops and the people, especially amid the unpredictable developments of epidemics, weather conditions, and environmental pollution. In order to successfully fulfil its responsibilities and honour, the Sector will innovate comprehensively towards “regularity, modernity, proactiveness, sustainability”, focusing on several key points as follows.

First, continuing to perfect the organisational structure in accordance with the building of a modern VPA and medical support requirements in the new situation. The Military Medical Department will continue to assist the General Department of Logistics and Technology in giving advice to the CMC and MND on policies and solutions to build an adept, compact, strong military medical force at all levels. Emphasis will be placed on adopting new organisational structures for hospitals, adjusting and consolidating organisational structures for preventive medicine agencies and units, field hospitals, combat-ready military medical teams, initial and basic surgical rescue teams, and the system of military medical facilities stationed in border, sea, island, and extremely difficult areas, ensuring flexibility and mobility as well as the capacity to fulfil military medical support work in various forms of combat and across different operational areas.

A contest for chiefs of military medical offices from full-strength infantry divisions

At the same time, further advice will be provided to perfect command and management mechanisms as well as methods of military medical support in different national defence states, strengthen unity in leadership and direction and ensure close coordination between the military medical force and logistics, technical, and local medical forces. Attention will be paid to building and consolidating the military medical posture associated with the logistics - technical posture and the all-people national defence posture, forming a system of military medical facilities and mobile medical forces in line with the “Planning of the National Healthcare Network”, the organisation of defensive zones, and new administrative boundaries. Efforts will be intensified to give advice on perfecting mechanisms and policies for mobilising healthcare resources within the national economy to create an interconnected, solid military medical support posture.

Second, promoting the development of specialised military medical facilities to achieve breakthroughs in medical examination and treatment, scientific research, and healthcare support in all situations, consolidating the system of unit-level military medical facilities. Closely following the criteria for building a modern VPA and the requirements of Fatherland protection in the new situation, the Military Medical Department will continue to promote its strategic advisory, professional direction, and direct implementation roles to create a comprehensive breakthrough in military medical capability. Great value will be attached to building a synchronised and modern system of specialised military medical facilities from tactical to strategic levels, modernising key hospitals and research institutes on a par with regional and international standards, upgrading the preventive medicine system across the VPA to enhance the effectiveness of monitoring, early detecting, and controlling epidemics.

Furthermore, significance will be attached to providing professional direction for the entire Sector and developing key fields such as surgery, emergency resuscitation, toxicology, military medicine, disaster medicine, underwater medicine, and aviation medicine. Efforts will be intensified to combine modern medicine with traditional medicine and further promote such a combination in disease prevention and treatment. On the basis of initial results from the Programme to “Enhance the capacity of the military preventive medicine system” and the Government’s “Programme on healthcare development for sea and island areas until 2030”, the Sector will continue giving advice on fulfilling the set targets and objectives, improving its epidemic forecasting, surveillance, prevention, and control capabilities, ensuring healthcare support for military and defence missions, especially in strategic areas.

Third, building a contingent of “both red and expert” military medical cadres and physicians. Throughout its process of construction and development, the Military Medical Sector has always thoroughly grasped the viewpoint that “revolutionary medicine and professional science and technology must serve political tasks” as the foundation and standard for building, training, and developing its contingent of military medical cadres and employees. In the new situation, with the goal of building a pool of military medical cadres and employees possessing “political steadfastness, profound professional expertise, pure professional morality”, the Sector will continue realising resolutions and directives on personnel work, well implementing the principle of “two firmnesses, two strengthenings, and two preventions”, closely linking the “five pillars” motto with the training and working process of every military medical agency and unit.

The signing of a cooperation agreement between Vietnamese and Philippine military medical forces in 2025

Promoting its recorded achievements, the Sector will synchronously, effectively carry out the work of personnel planning, training, utilisation, and development to ensure appropriate quantity, synchronised structure, and increasingly high quality. Importance will be attached to building a democratic, disciplined working environment, creating favourable conditions for cadres and employees to fully promote their professional capabilities, enabling them to devote themselves to the VPA.

Thoroughly grasping and seriously executing the Project on “Policies to attract and utilise talents in the VPA until 2030, with a vision to 2050”, the Military Medical Department will give advice on perfecting mechanisms and policies for detecting, attracting, training, utilising, and appropriately rewarding talents, with a view to preserving and developing human resources for the Sector’s sustainable development.

Fourth, promoting the application of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, effectively combining military and civilian medicine, expanding international cooperation. Building on the achieved results, military medical facilities should proactively apply advanced and modern technologies and techniques in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, with a focus on cell and gene technologies, vaccine and biological product manufacture, diagnostic imaging, and military medicine. Due attention should be paid to accelerating digital transformation in professional activities, applying electronic medical records in 100% of military hospitals and infirmaries, completing electronic troop health records, widely adopting online services and applications under Project 06 in medical examination and treatment, building a database for the Military Medical Sector that is “accurate, complete, clean, up-to-date, unified, and shared”, proactively and urgently utilising artificial intelligence (AI) models in medical examination and treatment, hospital management, patient support, and epidemic forecasting, prevention, and control. The development of telemedicine models should be further promoted, with priority given to units stationed in remote, isolated, border, sea, island areas.

In addition, the Military Medical Sector will continue to strengthen and expand cooperation with medical establishments, research institutes, schools both inside and outside the VPA. International cooperation in military medicine will be promoted in a practical, effective fashion. The task of deploying military medical personnel to United Nations peacekeeping operations will continue to be well performed.

Proud of its heroic tradition in the past 80 years of construction, combat, and development, the Military Medical Sector will continue innovating and building itself into a regular and modern force, constantly improving its capability to care for and protect the health of troops and the people, contributing to firmly protecting the Socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

Maj. Gen., Prof., Dr, Meritorious Physician NGUYEN TRUONG GIANG
Director of the Military Medical Department