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The proposal recommends standardizing the out-of-hospital emergency response network to national standards, including a center for receiving and processing emergency information. It also calls for using a single national emergency number nationwide, established and managed by the Ministry of Public Security, alongside efforts to increase ambulances and expand out-of-hospital emergency care training.
Mr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment (Ministry of Health), said the proposal is being piloted in six localities: Haiphong, Bac Ninh, Ha Tinh, Khanh Hoa, Da Nang, and An Giang.
The pilot localities are supported with 85 ambulances meeting international standards, each equipped with about 380 medical devices. At the same time, the 115 emergency service personnel and local health staff are being trained from basic to advanced first aid.
Mr. Duc said the plan aims to standardize ambulances to international standards—covering equipment such as integrated systems including emergency beds and defibrillators—rather than focusing only on transporting patients. The approach is intended to enable medical staff to handle critical cases directly on the vehicle.
Health Ministry leaders said out-of-hospital emergency response affects the effectiveness of the “golden hour,” helping reduce deaths and complications. They noted that in countries with developed systems, mortality rates can fall 20–40%.
Vietnam’s current ambulance availability is described as low, at about 0.2 ambulances per 100,000 people, compared with Japan and Singapore.
The Ministry of Health also cited stroke-related figures: about 222,000 stroke cases annually, with most not treated promptly. Only 23.2% of patients reach hospitals within the first 4.5 hours, and about 20% are transported by the professional emergency system.
Officials said rapid and coordinated emergency response is also needed for traffic accidents, drowning, fires, and natural disasters from the first minutes.
On September 15, 2025, the Government issued Resolution 282/NQ-CP, assigning the Ministry of Health to develop an external emergency response development plan for 2026–2030.
Under the plan, by 2030 Vietnam aims to have at least 1 ambulance per 100,000 people and to expand first aid training for officials and the community.
Alongside the external emergency response development plan, the Ministry of Public Security is building a plan to integrate emergency numbers into the National Center for Receiving and Processing Emergency Information.
The numbers 113, 114, and 115 are expected to be merged into a single nationwide number 113, to be placed at the Police Command Information Center in 34 provinces and cities.
The rollout is planned in two stages. Stage one integrates and operates the unified 113 number at the local level. Stage two, after six months to a year, will evaluate to finalize the National 113 Center model and consider integrating additional numbers 111 and 117.
Calls to 113 from mobile networks will be routed to the Ministry of Public Security’s command center and then forwarded to the local area based on area code.
The system is designed with redundancy, including at least two data centers in the North and South to support 24/7 operation. If a local hub cannot be reached, calls will be redirected to backup channels such as landlines or mobile hotlines.
For out-of-hospital emergency calls, the operator uses AI to classify and forward calls directly to qualified facilities in the area, with the goal of shortening response time.
At a seminar, a representative of the Ministry of Public Security urged the Ministry of Health to harmonize the out-of-hospital emergency plan with the number integration plan to connect systems, share data, and improve implementation efficiency.
The representative said that once completed, ambulances will be equipped with GPS and connected to an intelligent traffic system for rapid coordination. In case of congestion, the system can prioritize a “green lane” to shorten the time to bring patients to health facilities.
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