By the Vietnam Expat team. Last reviewed 2026-09-23Run these checks before you pick a doctor, clinic or hospital in Vietnam, whether you already have a provider in mind or not.
For fees and addresses at named hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang, see our comparison of named hospitals.
What goes on a Vietnam healthcare checklist?
A Vietnam healthcare checklist is a short list of questions. Together they separate a provider you can trust from one you are guessing about.
Check the license, your legal rights and who pays first. Then check the price list, language support, the paperwork, your emergency route and the referral rules.
| Check | What to confirm | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Operating license. | Search the provider by name on Ho Chi Minh City's public lookup portal, or ask for the license number directly. | [2] |
| Your legal rights. | You get a plain explanation of diagnosis, options and cost before you agree to care. | [1] |
| Who pays first. | Ask how long a guarantee of payment takes for your specific insurer. | [8] |
| Price list. | Confirm whether a separate foreigner price column applies to you. | [12] |
| Language support. | Call and confirm the covered languages with a person, since a website list can be outdated. | [9] |
| Documents. | ID or passport and insurance card, plus the prescription and a doctor's letter for controlled medicines. | [9] [4] |
| Emergency route. | Know the national number and the hospital's own emergency line. | [4] |
| Referral letter. | Confirm the validity window before you rely on it. | [10] |
Source: provider pages, UK and Canadian government guidance and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, checked 2026-09-23 [1] [2] [4] [8] [9] [10] [12].
Is the provider properly licensed?
Ho Chi Minh City answers this directly. Its Department of Health runs a public lookup portal. It covers licensed practitioners, medical facilities and cosmetic centers, with a hotline for questions [2].
Outside Ho Chi Minh City, ask the front desk for the facility's license number directly. We could not confirm an equivalent public portal for Hanoi or Da Nang.
A private accreditation badge such as JCI is not the same as a government operating license. We cover what accreditation proves further down this page.
What rights does Vietnamese law give you as a patient?
Vietnam's 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment gives you a right to a plain explanation. You must hear your health status, the treatment options and the charges before you agree to anything [1].
You can only be asked to choose a treatment method after that explanation. After being advised, you can refuse treatment by signing a written commitment, except in compulsory treatment cases [1].
The same law gives you a right to confidentiality for your medical record and for other private information you give a practitioner [1].
None of this is legal advice for a specific dispute. Ask the provider to point to the explanation, the consent step and the confidentiality policy before your first visit, and treat a provider who skips this step as a warning sign.
Will you pay first, or can the provider bill your insurer directly?
Raise this before you are sitting in a waiting room. FV Hospital says a guarantee of payment from your insurer usually arrives within 4 to 48 working hours for insurers in its network, and 1 to 3 working days for others [8].
FV Hospital says a patient without a guarantee of payment pays in full and claims the cost back afterward [8]. Hanoi French Hospital takes a deposit at admission, refunds it once the guarantee arrives, and does not accept personal debt [11].
Raffles Medical says you stay liable for the bill until your insurer settles it in full, even once cashless billing is arranged [13]. Put that confirmation in writing, since a spoken yes at the front desk will not settle the bill later.
Which price list applies to you?
Some clinics quote foreigners and Vietnamese patients differently. Raffles Medical lists a standard pediatric consultation at 2,009,000 dong for a Vietnamese patient and 3,107,000 dong for a foreign patient [12].
City International Hospital marks its published prices as support prices for patients without international private insurance [14]. A different rate likely applies if you carry one. Call ahead of the visit and ask which column or list applies to your passport and your insurance.
Can you get care in a language you understand?
Confirm coverage before you book, since it is not universal. FV Hospital offers free interpretation in seven languages, available 24 hours a day [9].
American International Hospital says its team speaks seven languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Cambodian [17]. Canada says private clinics usually have English or French speaking staff [7]. Name the exact language you need when you call, and ask whether an interpreter is on site or booked in advance.
What documents should you carry to any appointment?
Bring a passport or national ID and your insurance card or policy details. FV Hospital registers a first-time patient with a national ID card, a passport, or for a child, a birth certificate. Add an insurance card where one applies [9].
Add a written list of the medicines you currently take. UK guidance says it is illegal to hold more than 7 days of a prescribed addictive or psychotropic medicine [4]. Keep the prescription and a doctor's letter with you.
How fast can you reach emergency care?
UK travel guidance says to dial 115 for an ambulance in Vietnam [4]. Save the receiving hospital's own emergency line too, as a second number to call.
Canada's government warns that an ambulance can be slow in traffic [7]. Pick your nearest hospital with an emergency department now, and save its address and phone number where you can find them fast.
Does a referral protect your place in line, or do you start over?
It depends on the letter's category. FV Hospital says a social health insurance referral letter is valid for 10 working days for a single consultation, or one year for a chronic condition [10].
Ask the issuing clinic which category applies to your case before you leave with the letter. Ask that same clinic what happens if you miss the window, since none of our sources cover it.
| Step | Typical time | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ambulance number to dial. | 115, per UK travel guidance. | [4] |
| Guarantee of payment, network insurer. | 4 to 48 working hours. | [8] |
| Guarantee of payment, other insurer. | 1 to 3 working days. | [8] |
| Referral letter, single consultation. | Valid 10 working days. | [10] |
| Referral letter, chronic condition. | Valid 1 year. | [10] |
| Prescribed addictive or psychotropic medicine held. | Illegal above 7 days. | [4] |
Source: FV Hospital and UK government guidance, checked 2026-09-23 [4] [8] [10].
Is a telehealth or remote consult an option?
Possibly, so ask. In June 2020 the Ministry of Health approved a remote care program for 2020 to 2025, linking patients at local facilities with specialists at named central hospitals [3]. We could not confirm whether it continues after 2025.
Check with your local clinic on whether it still takes part before ruling it out. The decision describes designated central hospitals giving lower tier and private facilities remote consultation, imaging review and surgical guidance [3].
What should you keep after the visit?
Keep more than the receipt. FV Hospital says insurers typically ask for the claim form and the original itemized invoice [18]. Add prescription copies and a discharge summary or medical report [18].
Photograph each document the day you receive it. A missing page is easier to fix while you are still in the building than after you have gone home.
Is the address or phone number you have still current?
Check it again if your information is more than a year or two old. The UK government's 2022 list of medical facilities put FV Hospital's address in Tan Phu Ward, District 7 [6]; FV's own page now gives Tan My Ward instead [20].
Call ahead and confirm both the address and the phone number before you travel across the city.
What does an accreditation badge like JCI really prove?
It proves JCI's own accreditation review, not a government operating license. FV Hospital says it first achieved JCI accreditation in 2016. It has held it for four consecutive cycles, including 2025, with a self-reported compliance score over 98 percent [19].
That figure comes from the hospital's own page, not from an independent audit we ran or from JCI directly. Treat an accreditation badge as one input, and check the operating license separately using the lookup portal covered earlier on this page [2].
What do you do if something goes wrong?
Start with the provider's own complaint channel. Go above it only if that does not work. Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Health lists a hotline for questions on its licensing lookup portal [2], though we could not confirm whether that same line takes formal service quality complaints.
For a genuine emergency, dial 115 first and sort out the complaint afterward [4]. Keep the invoice, the referral letter and any written answer a provider gives you. Vietnamese law gives you the right to read and copy your own medical record [1].