Health Tech in Vietnam-
Digital growth enablers set a promising ground for Health Tech Market to flourish
in Vietnam
Vietnamese
are making their way in the digitally advanced Healthcare system faster than
most Asian countries. Vietnam is experiencing
the era of “Golden Age” with many digital enablers that are setting the best
ground for new and innovative technology advancements especially in the
healthcare sector. Since, there has been a gap in the doctor to patient ratio;
Vietnamese government is expecting to bridge it with tech solutions such as
e-Pharmacy, Online Consultation, Appointment Booking and Health IT solutions.
Healthcare technologies have accelerated their growth with the advent of
COVID-19. Strict lockdown regulations made it is easy for most players to make
a mark in the industry.
In
conversation with Huynh Phuoc Tho
Alain-Project Development Manager, eDoctor– Health Tech segment: E- Pharmacy,
Online Consultation and Appointment Booking, we attempted to seek their
opinions and understand their side of story to ‘Health Tech Market in Vietnam’.
Here are some excerpts of the interview:
What are the Growth
factors of Health Tech Market in Vietnam?
Digital Transformation is something that we can’t escape. Government is also pushing the technology advancements in Vietnam, particularly for Healthcare sector. We have been in the market for 6 years and things have changed a lot. Since last one year, people talk a lot about telemedicine, capacity to deliver healthcare and bringing new models in the delivery of healthcare services. Vietnam Health Tech is moving and it has seen a lot of start-ups as well with different models and different areas of focus particularly telemedicine, connecting doctors and patients.
Request For Free Sample Report @ https://www.kenresearch.com/sample-report.php?Frmdetails=MTQyNzE0
What are the challenges in the Health Tech
industry?
Telemedicine segment suffers a
lot, since there is no proper framework and regulation by the government. Due
to this many health institutions, medical centres, hospitals and universities
hesitated to adopt the telemedicine and bring it in practice.
It became very difficult to sell
the idea and key process of telemedicine initially because it is not easy to
get doctors on board since they are much occupied and not comfortable with
technological advancements.
Shortage of doctor comes
secondary but it is more about the willingness to adapt to the change. It is
difficult for the doctors to diagnose the patients virtually with limited
information.
The major challenge is that in
Vietnam it is not allowed to provide e-prescriptions after virtual
consultation, which makes the idea of consultation less useful for the
patients.
Is there any
regulation that will affect the health tech market to grow?
Yes, since the government is
working hard to integrate technological solutions to deliver better healthcare
facilities, we are expecting to see the change in the regulations for
Telemedicine very soon, where doctors will be allowed to prescribe
e-prescriptions.
Telemedicine in Vietnam is
currently more about doctors connecting to doctors in two separate hospitals in
case of emergenciesand it is not very much directed to patients.
We need correct models to
directly reach the patients.
What was the
impact of COVID-19?
COVID-19 has accelerated the
digital transformation. Government realised the importance of digital
healthcare. MOH approved a plan for digital transformation that includes the
implementation of electronic health records, cashless payment portals, etc.
There has not been a big change
as we expected it to be. There has been a constant up and down in the number of
users for telemedicine. There were more queries about the home healthcare,
appointment booking and e-pharmacies.
How is
eDoctor model different from others?
eDoctor is bringing a one click
solution for the patients. eDoctor allows you to register free of cost. It
allows the patients to either leave a query or use chat box option to connect
to the doctor. You can also audio or video call the doctor for consultation
with the minimal fee charge. There is no difference in the consultation fee for
a specialised or a general doctor.
For an authentic delivery of
drugs, we connect to the top pharmacy chains since they have many stores across
the country resulting in expansion of our reach as well in the market.
How is
e-pharmacy market doing in Vietnam?
It is not a very attractive
market in terms of revenue. Most orders that we get are from the southern
region since our retail partners have more stores in the southern area.
When a patient visits a hospital
or clinic and get a prescription, they prefer buying medicines from the
hospital stores. Also Vietnam has no scarcity of the drug stores.
For e-pharmacy to boom, the
government should allow e-prescriptions so that the patient can have the ease
of buying medicines right after virtual consultation.
How is the
competition in Vietnam Health Tech Market?
The competition is very less
because we all differ in our business model. Most retail players are shifting
to the online portals which will give tough competition in future.
What is the
future of Vietnam Health Tech Market?
We expect the market to grow
substantially that is why we are investing a lot in this segment. We are
positive about the growth of the market. We are expecting to see changes in the
framework of telemedicine. There will be clarity in terms of what a doctor can
do and cannot do in the online consultation. What will be a doctor’s
responsibility while examining a patient and what areas can be covered by the
specialists.
We expect the market to grow
100-200% annually because the room is too empty and its potential is big enough
to grow. We can say eDoctor will grow by 20-25% in the coming years.
Verbatim: “We are hopeful for a behavioral change where
people are ready to accept and adopt the digital technologies”.
For any queries or feedback, reach out at namit@kenresearch.com
To Find More on Vietnam Healthcare Market Research
Reports, refer to this link:-
Contact Us:-
Ken Research
Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing &
Communications
ankur@kenresearch.com
