Part 2: Building grassroots-level healthcare as the foundation

Implementing the Politburo’s Resolution No.72-NQ/TW and adapting to the requirements of the two-tier local administrative model, Điện Biên province is focusing on comprehensively consolidating its network, safeguarding human resources, and elevating professional proficiency to enhance case management capacity right on the front lines.

Solidifying the front line through human resources

Effective July 1, 2026, 45 commune and ward health stations along with 67 sub-stations across Điện Biên province were transferred to the direct management of commune-level People’s Committees. Alongside the primary station network, sub-stations continue to be maintained across essential localities, ensuring that residents in highland, deep, and remote areas can access primary healthcare services. This network reorganization establishes clear administrative focal points that stay closer to local reality. However, given the fragmented terrain and dispersed population, operational requirements extend beyond simply sustaining the network to securing sufficient personnel and professional capacity for the tiers directly delivering public healthcare.

The entire province currently counts over 3,800 medical staff, maintaining a ratio of approximately 13 doctors per 10,000 residents, with 100% of commune and ward health stations staffed by working doctors. Supported by training and recruitment incentives, numerous qualified medical personnel have been assigned and deployed to reinforce the grassroots-level.

Following more than 17 years dedicated to teaching at Điện Biên Medical College, general practitioner Đoàn Viết Chiều transferred to work at the Na Sang commune Health Station. Moving from an environment primarily focused on lecture halls and academic training, Đoàn Viết Chiều returned directly to the grassroots-level, where daily responsibilities center on primary examination, treatment, and community health management. With the agreement of sector leadership and family support, Đoàn Viết Chiều adapted swiftly to the new post, directly examining, monitoring, and managing chronic patients while handling common illnesses in the locality.

Drawing upon extensive clinical experience accumulated over years of service, during his time at the station, Đoàn Viết Chiều discusses with colleagues how to explore patient symptoms, assess pathological conditions, select management pathways, and monitor patients post-examination. These clinical insights shared during routine daily work provide the station’s physician assistants and nurses with opportunities to learn and upgrade their capacity to handle common conditions at the grassroots-level tier.

Bachelor of Public Health Trần Thị Bình, in charge of professional duties at the Na Sang commune Health Station, stated that having an experienced doctor working directly at the station elevates the quality of initial diagnosis and treatment for local residents. Throughout task performance, the contingent of physician assistants and nurses also gains conditions to exchange knowledge, learn, and receive direct professional guidance, particularly in managing real-world clinical cases.

Parallel to personnel reinforcement, Điện Biên focuses on training doctors based on actual needs through the Pilot Project on Young Volunteer Doctors Working in Mountainous, Remote, Isolated, and Border Areas (Project 585). This approach aligns training with the professional requirements of highland healthcare, generating human resources capable of handling vital assignments directly at the grassroots-level tier.

In 2025 alone, the province saw 13 doctors complete Specialist Level I training programs in intensive care and emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging, infectious diseases, obstetrics and pediatrics, and surgery. These fields align directly with the practical demands of mountainous healthcare. Establishing a contingent of doctors trained in specialized disciplines based on local needs equips grassroots-level units and local medical facilities with personnel competent to undertake critical duties, curbing dependence on higher-level facilities in situations manageable on-site.

From personnel reinforcement to capacity transfer

Pursuing the goal of making grassroots-level healthcare the foundation of the health system in the spirit of Resolution No.72-NQ/TW, alongside reinforcing localized human resources, the Điện Biên health sector implements a mechanism for cadre secondment and rotation that pairs personnel support with on-site training and professional capacity transfer.

During the first 7 months of 2026, the entire sector deployed 2,243 personnel dispatches to provide professional support to the commune level. Among these, 417 visits were conducted by cadres from provincial-level hospitals and specialized centers, and 1,826 visits were carried out by personnel from district health centers. The reinforced personnel consist of qualified doctors and cadres with practical experience across fields such as internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and pediatrics, intensive care and emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging, infectious diseases, and specialties tailored to the needs of each locality.

Doctor Hà Thị Huyền Dung from the Điện Biên Phủ Health Center was among the 108 provincial-tier cadres deployed to the grassroots-level during the initial phase. As an experienced practitioner, upon arriving at the Điện Biên Phủ Ward Health Station, Hà Thị Huyền Dung directly conducted examinations, provided health consultations, and managed care for local residents, while coordinating with station staff to exchange expertise and support patient diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.

Hà Thị Huyền Dung shared that returning to the grassroots-level is not solely about directly examining patients, but more importantly about accompanying, providing professional support, and standardizing treatment workflows alongside local colleagues, thereby enabling residents to enjoy quality medical services directly at their place of residence.

At the Na Cô Sa Health Sub-station under the Quảng Lâm commune Health Station, which provides primary healthcare to more than 7,000 residents, with 97% belonging to the Hmông ethnic group, 6 provincial doctor rotations have been dispatched. Although the sub-station still lacks laboratory equipment for hematology, biochemistry, electrocardiograms, and X-rays, professional support activities have provided local cadres with direct on-site guidance in managing common clinical conditions.

Physician Assistant Lò Văn Thỏa from the Na Cô Sa Health Sub-station shared that with visiting doctors directly demonstrating first-aid procedures, poisoning management, and epidemic prevention planning, local personnel feel more confident and technically capable. Practical support provides staff with greater experience in patient care and follow-up, ensuring timely on-site medical attention for residents while alleviating the burdens and travel expenses of seeking care far away.

From personnel reinforcement to capacity transfer, Điện Biên’s approach aims to enable grassroots-level healthcare facilities to independently shoulder primary healthcare duties. This serves as the groundwork to narrow the gap in healthcare access between central areas and disadvantaged localities, while easing patient pressure on higher tiers.

Throughout this process, policy efficacy is gauged not merely by the volume of dispatched cadres, but more critically by the knowledge and skills left behind at the grassroots-level and the subsequent operational competence of local teams. That forms the foundation for broader objectives of Resolution No.72-NQ/TW to continue rolling out into daily life, spanning disease prevention and health management to transforming public perception and behavior.