Promoting solutions to achieve the goal of universal health check-ups

Since the beginning of 2026, more than 2.5 million residents in Dong Nai City have received free periodic health check-ups and screenings. The city is now among the localities with the highest number of people benefiting from these services nationwide.

With the goal of ensuring that every citizen receives at least one health check-up each year, laying the foundation for implementation in the years ahead, the Ministry of Health, the Dong Nai City People's Committee, and the Dong Nai Department of Health are accelerating measures to address difficulties and obstacles encountered during implementation, with the aim of achieving free universal periodic health check-ups in line with the established roadmap.

Correctly distinguishing between health screening and periodic health check-ups

Free periodic health check-ups and health screenings for all citizens constitute not only the largest healthcare campaign to date but also an important foundation for establishing electronic health records for every individual. However, some localities and medical facilities have yet to fully distinguish between these two activities.

Leaders of the Ministry of Health and the Dong Nai Department of Health inspect the free health check-ups for residents in Tri An Ward, Dong Nai City. Photo: Tran Nga

Specialist Level II Doctor Do Thi Nguyen, Director of the Dong Nai Department of Health, said periodic health check-ups are intended to comprehensively assess an individual's health status and classify citizens' health in accordance with regulations. In contrast, health screenings focus on the early detection of risks associated with specific diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, cervical cancer, and breast cancer. Although both forms contribute to the development of electronic health records, they differ entirely in their professional objectives and scope of implementation.

To avoid mistakes, the Department of Health has required localities and units to comply with six principles, including correctly understanding new legal regulations; selecting eligible examination facilities; using the appropriate examination forms for each age group; following proper professional procedures; fully updating digital data; and being ready to implement the program immediately after training.

In particular, not all medical examination and treatment facilities are authorized to conduct periodic health check-ups. An eligible facility must possess a valid medical examination and treatment operating license, have an approved professional scope that includes health check-ups, maintain sufficient personnel as prescribed, and ensure that examining physicians hold valid practice certificates or appropriate practice licenses.

At a recent meeting on the universal free health check-up program, Le Truong Son, Member of the Dong Nai City Party Committee’s Standing Board and Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee, called on communes and wards to take the initiative and play a central role in organizing universal health check-ups.

The city leader also requested that, before conducting health check-ups, local authorities coordinate with the health sector and police forces to review population data, compile resident lists, eliminate duplicate records, classify residents into target groups, develop implementation plans, select examination facilities, and notify each citizen of his or her examination schedule.

On the day of the examination, the professional process is organized in a one-way workflow to prevent congestion. Citizens are identified using chip-based citizen identification cards or VNeID accounts, receive the appropriate examination forms according to their age, and undergo examinations and paraclinical tests ordered when necessary. Following the physician's assessment, each citizen receives health counseling or is referred to a higher-level facility if a medical condition is detected. The final mandatory step is to enter the examination data into the system, ensuring data interoperability and enabling the individual's electronic health record to be updated.

Accurate data entry is the “key” to healthcare digital transformation

 One of the challenges reported by many medical facilities during the implementation of the universal free health check-up program is entering health examination data and ensuring data interoperability.

Doctors from Dong Nai Children's Hospital provide free health check-ups for children in Loc Quang Commune.

Specialist Level II Doctor Dinh Cao Minh, Deputy Director of Dong Nai General Hospital, said the hospital conducts health check-ups for approximately 100,000 employees at businesses and industrial parks in the city each year. However, examination information is not stored in any software system but is instead recorded in health record books and transferred to businesses for management.

Vu Xuan Thuy, Director of Binh Phuoc General Hospital, said the hospital regularly organizes charitable medical examination programs for residents. However, health information is generally recorded only on patients' prescriptions and is not uploaded to the Ministry of Health's Portal.

Under the Ministry of Health's guidelines, facilities that already use health check-up management software may enter data directly into their own systems and synchronize it via an Application Programming Interface (API). Facilities without such software are required to update information directly on the Ministry of Health's Health Data Portal at csdlksk.vn.

However, data is valuable only when it complies with the principle of being "accurate, complete, clean, and live." Accordingly, all data fields must be complete, correctly formatted, free of duplication, and continuously updated. Medical facilities are also required to apply digital signatures before transmitting data to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the information.

Under Dong Nai City's implementation roadmap, all citizens must receive at least one health check-up in 2026, and the results must be updated to their electronic health records by December 31, 2026.

Following each round of health examination, the organizing unit must complete the data interoperability with the Ministry of Health's Personal Health Database within 24 hours. The system will verify the data structure and identify duplicate records or missing information. The examination facility must correct any detected errors before resubmitting the data.

According to Prof. Dr. Tran Van Thuan, Deputy Minister of Health, data standardization not only supports personal health management but also helps build a national health database to serve policy planning and improve the management efficiency of the health sector. He therefore called on localities and medical facilities to adopt a unified approach to organizing health check-ups, select qualified examination facilities, comply with professional procedures, and ensure that all data is "accurate, complete, clean, and live."

By Hanh Dung – Translated by Minh Hong, Thu Ha