Vietnam to See Private and Foreign-Invested Hospitals Mushrooming

According to the Ministry of Health, number of private clinics and foreign-invested hospitals will sharply soar in the near future when a series of investment incentives are put into reality. First of all, many barriers in private medical activities in Vietnam will be removed when special tax incentives are applied to healthcare enterprises in line with the Law on Enterprise Income Tax which will come into effect next year. Accordingly, these enterprises will enjoy an enterprise income tax rate of 10% (currently 28%) during their operation. Newly established enterprises will be granted with a tax exemption for at least four years and a 50% tax reduction in the following nine years. Besides, the Vietnamese Government has issued many preferential policies on land and investment, especially the Decree on encouraging non-public health services providers. Some projects to invest, expand, and build hospitals are even lent with 70% of the total capital. During the past years, the Vietnamese Government has approved many policies to facilitate the development of healthcare. Private investors are encouraged to engage in high-benefit health activities such as building polyclinics and providing hi-tech testing services. From early this year, foreign investors have registered to open 35 consulting rooms and 8 hospitals, raising the numbers of private hospitals and consulting rooms in Vietnam to over 70 and 30,000 respectively. – VGP