By Ames Gross Although underdeveloped, the healthcare sector in Vietnam isexpanding rapidly. Sinc

By Ames Gross

Although underdeveloped, the healthcare sector in Vietnam isexpanding rapidly. Since October 2009, some health insurance is compulsory for all citizens in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese government plans to achieve universal health coverage by 2015. It also has pledged approximately $2.2 billion to improve and build more specialty hospitals and provincial-level general hospitals in less developed regions by 2013.

The rapidly growing Vietnamese medical device sector largely is driven by imports, which make up about 90 percent of the market. Medical devices from China, Japan and Singapore accounted for almost half of all medical imports in 2010. Domestic production mainly is limited to low-end medical devices and basic items such as syringes and hospital beds. Unfortunately, device shortages are commonplace.

Vietnam’s medical device market is estimated at $400 million, or about $6 per capita in 2010. It is expected that the device market will continue to expand at about 15 percent a year. Experts believe that the Vietnamese market will surpass $1 billion in about seven years, as the country further develops.

Since the government lifted the ban on private practice in 1989, the private healthcare sector in Vietnam has grown significantly. Because current public health facilities are very poor, people often choose private facilities if they can afford it.