With competitive healthcare costs, highly qualified medical professionals, advanced medical techniques, diverse tourism and resort offerings, and a stable, secure environment, Vietnam is well positioned to become an attractive medical tourism destination in the region.
As international integration deepens, medical tourism is growing and making an increasingly significant contribution to economic growth. However, in Ho Chi Minh City, this potential remains underutilized, as most hospitals still lack specialized service models tailored to international patients.
Low costs, high medical expertise
 "An Australian patient expresses his heartfelt gratitude to doctors at the Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Center after being successfully saved from a life-threatening acute myocardial infarction. (Photo: SGGP)")
In early October 2026, Minh Anh International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City admitted a 31-year-old Cambodian woman in critical condition due to mesenteric artery embolism, with near-total necrosis of the small intestine and multiple organ failure.
The patient had previously received treatment in Cambodia, but her prognosis was extremely poor, and her family was advised to prepare for the worst. Unwilling to give up hope, her relatives decided to bring her to Vietnam for treatment. Following emergency surgery, intensive care, and specialized treatment, her condition gradually improved, and she was discharged from the hospital.
K.W.S., a 41-year-old Singaporean woman, once faced the risk of losing her baby after the fetus was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart defect. After more than 10 years of hoping to have a child, she was reluctant to terminate the pregnancy. Following research and professional consultations, she was referred by Singaporean doctors to Tu Du Hospital, which had previously performed successful fetal cardiac intervention procedures. After two interventions, the fetal heart condition improved, opening up a chance of survival for the baby.
Professor and Academician Nguyen Van De, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Private Hospitals, said that while Vietnamese people commonly traveled to Singapore, Japan, and other countries with advanced medical systems for treatment 30 years ago, Vietnam is now beginning to receive patients in the opposite direction.
Vietnam's healthcare advantages lie not only in reasonable treatment costs but also in medical expertise, the ability to master modern technologies, and the development of both public and private hospital systems. Competitive treatment costs are among the key factors attracting international patients.
For some medical services, treatment costs in Vietnam are only 30–50 percent of those in Singapore and Thailand. For example, a single dental implant in Vietnam costs approximately US$1,000–US$1,200, compared with up to US$5,000 in the United States. In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment in Vietnam costs about one-third of the price in Thailand and one-fifth of that in the United States.
Combining medical expertise with international-standard services
Beyond its cost advantages, Vietnam's healthcare sector is increasingly demonstrating its medical expertise in various high-tech fields, including organ transplantation, cardiovascular interventions, robotic surgery, assisted reproduction, and cancer treatment. Many public and private hospitals have invested in modern equipment, developed multidisciplinary treatment models, and adopted advanced techniques, including robotic surgery, to improve outcomes for complex conditions and attract international patients.
Traditional medicine is also drawing growing interest from foreign patients. Second-degree Specialist Doctor Do Tan Khoa, director of Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Traditional Medicine, said traditional medicine had significant potential to become a distinctive medical tourism offering by combining treatment with rehabilitation and other services. Acupuncture, thread embedding, therapeutic exercises, and herbal medicine, when systematically organized and integrated with wellness and resort services, could prove attractive to international visitors.
Meanwhile, the dental sector attracts around 100,000 visits by foreign patients to Vietnam each year, generating an estimated VND3.5 trillion in revenue. Assisted reproduction has also emerged as a strength of medical tourism, thanks to reasonable costs, modern techniques, and high success rates.
A stronger partnership is needed
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, hundreds of patient visits from Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, and other countries were recorded in the city during the first nine months of 2026. However, Dr. Huynh Minh Chin, deputy director of the department, said only a small number of hospitals had proactively developed services specifically for international patients.
Meanwhile, most healthcare facilities remain focused on conventional medical examination and treatment, with limited links to tourism, accommodation, and patient care services. Coordination among departments and agencies, including health, tourism, public security, and foreign affairs, remains fragmented, without a regular, unified operating mechanism.
In addition, statistics, market research, and data on medical tourism remain inadequate, undermining the effectiveness of policymaking, promotional activities, and efforts to attract international visitors. Many hospitals have yet to meet requirements for service facilities, international patient experiences, and medical resort standards.
According to Dr. Huynh Minh Chin, Ho Chi Minh City has significant advantages for developing medical tourism, thanks to its network of specialized hospitals, highly qualified healthcare professionals, mastery of many modern techniques, and convenient international connectivity. These strengths provide a foundation for the city to develop key medical tourism offerings, including specialized treatment, dentistry, assisted reproduction, cosmetic procedures, and high-quality health checkups.
Notably, the merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau has expanded the city's development space, creating opportunities to connect medical examination and treatment services with coastal, ecological, and resort tourism, as well as traditional medicine and rehabilitation. This would enable the city to build an integrated service chain covering everything from medical examinations and treatment to health care, rehabilitation, and resort stays, helping attract international visitors, extend their stays, and generate greater economic value.
To fully capitalize on its medical tourism potential, leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said stronger links were needed among healthcare facilities, travel companies, and accommodation providers, alongside the standardization of service quality to meet international standards.
With its medical expertise firmly established, services standardized, and the brand promoted systematically, Ho Chi Minh City would have opportunities not only to attract more international patients but also to retain domestic patients, gradually making healthcare an important contributor to the growth of the city's service sector and economy.
Dr. Duong Huy Luong, deputy director of the Department of Medical Services Administration under the Ministry of Health, said Vietnam would struggle to establish a sustainable competitive advantage over Thailand and Singapore if it relied solely on low costs or individual treatment techniques.
Vietnam needs to develop specialized medical centers, standardize services, and strengthen links between hospitals, travel companies, and accommodation providers. The country's healthcare system has no shortage of core institutions capable of attracting international patients, but it lacks a strategy to connect them into a complete ecosystem.
Only by combining medical expertise with internationally standardized services and systematic brand promotion can the “gold mine” of medical tourism be effectively tapped, becoming a high-value-added service sector that contributes to economic growth.
