Multipolar healthcare system to bring medical services closer to residents

While the city's multi-tier healthcare model is designed to ensure continuous care, the multipolar approach aims to reshape the healthcare landscape of a modern metropolis.

Reshaping healthcare for mega-city

For decades, Ho Chi Minh City's healthcare system has been centred on major hospitals and specialist institutions in the urban core. However, following the city's territorial expansion, greater travel distances have become a barrier to healthcare access, while continued concentration of resources in the inner city has intensified traffic congestion, social costs and hospital overcrowding.

The city is therefore shifting from a centralised model to one that distributes healthcare capacity more evenly. According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tang Chi Thuong, director of the municipal Department of Health, every healthcare hub should be capable of meeting essential medical needs locally, with core specialties such as emergency medicine, intensive care, internal medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics, paediatrics, anaesthesiology, diagnostic imaging and laboratory services.

Each hub will also develop specialised strengths, including cardiology, oncology, ophthalmology, dentistry, traditional medicine or rehabilitation, depending on its advantages.

Rather than being a single large hospital, each healthcare hub will function as a complete medical ecosystem integrating primary care, regional and specialist hospitals, emergency medical services and digital infrastructure. Residents will receive community-based health management, timely emergency treatment, appropriate hospital care and rapid referrals when advanced treatment is required, followed by long-term follow-up close to home.

The system will operate as a unified professional network, with tertiary hospitals serving as leading centres while regional gateway hospitals provide high-quality care locally. Integrated digital infrastructure, including electronic health records, electronic medical records, teleconsultation platforms, coordinated referral systems and shared databases, will enable seamless continuity of care across the network.

Bringing specialist care closer to communities

Under the traditional model, patients must come to specialists. Under the multipolar model, specialist expertise will be brought closer to where people live.

This represents a fundamental shift in the philosophy of healthcare development. In the past, the quality of a healthcare system was measured by its major central hospitals. In a multipolar system, it is measured by whether residents in every part of the city can access high-quality healthcare within a reasonable distance, Thuong said.

The Department of Health plans to establish six specialised healthcare hubs: the existing central medical hub; a northern hub centred on Binh Duong General Hospital; an eastern hub centred on Thu Duc General Hospital; a southeastern hub in former Ba Ria–Vung Tau area; a southwestern hub covering Binh Chanh and Can Gio; and a western hub serving Cu Chi and Hoc Mon.

To support the strategy, the city is upgrading gateway hospitals, including Thu Duc, Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Duong, Vung Tau and Ba Ria General Hospitals, into regional healthcare centres capable of delivering high-quality services and reducing unnecessary referrals to central hospitals.

The city is also expanding major tertiary hospitals through additional campuses. Gia Dinh People's Hospital will establish a third campus in Phu My to serve the southeastern region, while Binh Duong General Hospital will open a second campus at Bac Tan Uyen Medical Centre.

The Psychiatric Hospital will develop a facility in Binh Duong, and Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital plans a campus in Ba Ria. Other specialist hospitals, including those for traditional medicine, rehabilitation, ophthalmology, dentistry, otorhinolaryngology and dermatology, will also establish additional facilities in Binh Duong and Ba Ria–Vung Tau to meet growing healthcare demand.

The multipolar strategy is not about bringing patients to the centre but bringing the centre's expertise to the people. It not only addresses current challenges such as overcrowding, unequal access and uneven resource distribution, but also creates a flexible healthcare structure capable of supporting Ho Chi Minh City's long-term urban development, Thuong said.

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