Modern healthcare – pillar for livable city

A city’s development is recognized through wide boulevards, modern industrial parks, and vibrant commercial centers. A truly livable city must also ensure that its residents have access to high-quality healthcare services and receive comprehensive protection and care at the grassroots level.

A heart surgery is performed at Dong Nai General Hospital.

Dong Nai’s healthcare sector is making steady efforts to build a modern, smart, and equitable healthcare system, thereby contributing to the development of a livable city.

From healthcare to creating quality of life

Dong Nai is a key growth driver of the Southern key economic region, marked by rapid industrialization and urbanization, a large population, a substantial workforce, and rising demand for healthcare services. Since Dong Nai gained city status, pressure on the healthcare system has expanded beyond medical examination and treatment to encompass population health management, disease prevention and control, food safety, people’s health, and the need to improve population quality.

In this context, the healthcare sector must not only respond after the fact to treat disease but also move proactively to protect people’s health and prevent illness. Specialist Level II Doctor Le Quang Trung, Deputy Director of the Dong Nai Department of Health, said that building a smart healthcare management model must be based on data, put people at the center, and prioritize service efficiency as its core objective. Modern healthcare is not merely about investing in equipment or building large hospitals. More importantly, it is about creating a healthcare ecosystem that is convenient, transparent, fast, and integrated for all citizens.

One of the clearest examples of the transformation in Dong Nai’s healthcare sector is the digital transformation process linked to the smart management model. This undertaking is not simply the application of technology, but a comprehensive change in the way patients are served and the healthcare system is managed.

According to the Dong Nai Department of Health, all 144 medical examination and treatment facilities across the city have implemented health insurance verification using chip-based citizen identification cards and the VNeID application, achieving a 100% adoption rate. This endeavor has eliminated the need for residents to carry paper health insurance cards, thereby significantly reducing administrative procedures and waiting times.

Notably, 27 out of 29 public medical examination and treatment facilities with inpatient beds under the Department of Health have implemented electronic medical records, while the remaining two facilities are in the process of dissolution. In addition, 7 out of 13 non-public healthcare facilities and 2 out of 2 medical facilities under the Ministry of National Defense operating in the locality have also joined this transformation.

Specialist Level II Doctor Phan Van Huyen, Director of Long Khanh Regional General Hospital, the first facility in Dong Nai to implement electronic medical records, stated that the transition from paper-based to digital records has not only improved management efficiency but also helped reduce professional errors, support accurate treatment, and facilitate data connectivity among healthcare levels. He emphasized that digital transformation in healthcare is an inevitable path toward improving service quality, optimizing resources, and building a people-centered healthcare system. The more convenience the digital transformation brings to people, the greater its value becomes.

In addition to electronic medical records, 11 smart healthcare kiosks have been installed at medical facilities across the locality, enabling residents to self-register for medical examinations and make quick payments using chip-based citizen identification cards. These changes represent some of the clearest manifestations of a modern city, where technology serves the people, reduces inconvenience, and enhances citizens’ overall experience.

“A livable city requires not only high-quality hospitals but also the capacity to provide early epidemic forecasting, manage electronic health records for the entire population, and ensure data interoperability with insurance, population, and national platforms. This goal is also the direction pursued by Dong Nai’s healthcare sector through systems such as OurHealth, a remote healthcare platform; LGSP, a platform for data integration and sharing at the ministerial, sectoral, and provincial or municipal levels; the National Data Exchange Platform (NDXP); and the specialized data transmission network, CPNET.”

Specialist Level II Doctor Le Quang Trung, Deputy Director of the Dong Nai Department of Health 

Smart healthcare operations center – the “digital brain” of a healthy city

In Dong Nai’s urban development strategy, the Smart Healthcare Operations Center is regarded as an important breakthrough. In line with the Department of Health's orientation, the system will be connected to the Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) of Dong Nai City to monitor disease outbreaks and track hospital bed capacity, human resources, medicines, and medical supplies in real time. This endeavor will support authorities in making faster and more accurate decisions.

This undertaking means that, in the future, healthcare management will no longer depend primarily on traditional administrative reports but instead on live, real-time data updated hourly and daily. This effort is a core foundation for Dong Nai to build a healthy city model in which public health is managed proactively.

Alongside tertiary hospitals, Dong Nai identifies grassroots healthcare as the foundation of a livable city. A developed city cannot rely solely on hospitals to provide care when residents become seriously ill; instead, people must receive healthcare services and support from the community level onward.

Commune- and ward-level health stations are gradually shifting from an administrative model to a modern primary healthcare model. Their functions include managing electronic health records, disease prevention and control, vaccination, chronic disease management, maternal and child healthcare, and nutritional counseling. This network serves as a “soft shield” protecting the city against epidemics, easing pressure on hospitals, and helping residents access high-quality healthcare services close to home. It also contributes to ensuring equity in healthcare, an indispensable criterion of a livable city.

Despite many positive results, healthcare digital transformation and the development of a smart, modern healthcare system still face certain challenges. These include inconsistent information technology infrastructure, a shortage of specialized information technology personnel, fragmented data systems, increasing pressure to ensure information security, and policies that have yet to keep pace with practical demands. To address these bottlenecks, Le Quang Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of Health, proposed that the municipal People’s Committee continue prioritizing the allocation of resources and funding for investment in digital infrastructure, data centers, information technology equipment, and shared platforms for the healthcare sector. He also called for more favorable mechanisms for leasing information technology services, maintaining system operations, and deploying shared digital platforms.

The leadership of the Department of Health also proposed that the Dong Nai City People’s Committee recommend that the central government and the Ministry of Health continue refining mechanisms, policies, technical standards, and professional guidelines related to digital transformation in the healthcare sector, electronic medical records, electronic health records, and medical data interoperability. At the same time, they urged the early issuance of guidelines on calculating the costs of information technology applications and digital transformation within the pricing structure of medical examination and treatment services.

By Hanh Dung – Translated by Minh Hong, Minho