Ho Chi Minh City social welfare and healthcare policy

Ho Chi Minh City is implementing and proposing various social welfare and healthcare policies to support vulnerable populations.

Initial guidance clarified social insurance benefits for cancer patients under Law No. 41/2024/QH15. This allows individuals with at least 15 years of contributions to seek early retirement based on reduced working capacity. Specifically, those with a reduction between 61% and 81% may retire up to five years early, while those with a reduction of 81% or higher may retire up to 10 years early.

Further proposals from the city’s People’s Committee aim to maintain a social subsidy standard of 650,000 VND per month, which exceeds the national average. Proposed expansions include monthly allowances for orphans, children under three, and individuals with serious illnesses or significant labor capacity reductions.

In the healthcare sector, the Department of Health is drafting a mechanism to locally license the import of rare drugs and specialized treatments not currently registered in Vietnam. This initiative seeks to expedite access to life-saving medications, with pilot programs suggesting local processing could reduce approval times to between 4 and 10 days.