Through proactive and systematic methods, the province is step-by-step building a solid basic healthcare foundation, ensuring the supply of essential medical services and contributing to improving the quality of life for highland people.

After completing the “Advanced Gastrointestinal Endoscopy for Nurses” training course, Lường Thị Sinh, a nursing graduate, returned to her daily work at the Nậm Pồ health center. The added professional knowledge helps her improve the quality of care and patient monitoring while supporting diagnosis more effectively right at the grassroots level. Lường Thị Sinh shared that working in a highland medical facility, gaining more professional knowledge helps patients avoid traveling far for treatment. Previously, she worried about difficult cases, especially when lacking personnel and equipment, but after the course, she understands each stage of patient care better and knows how to support doctors more effectively. The thing she is most happy about is that residents coming to the station receive more careful care and feel more secure, with many cases being treatable on-site without the hardship of a referral.

In 2025, the Nậm Pồ Health Center sent 88 officials to participate in short-term and long-term training programs. Among them, long-term training involved 43 officials focusing on key specialties such as specialist doctors, clinical pharmacy, nursing, y sỹ, and basic healthcare to supplement a qualified and stable human resource. Additionally, 45 officials participated in short-term training, prioritizing highly applicable fields like gastrointestinal endoscopy, emergency resuscitation, and nursing management to promptly meet professional and operational requirements. After training, the workforce is assigned to departments, rooms, and communal health stations to directly improve the quality of examination and treatment, increasing the ability to handle cases locally and contributing to consolidating the basic healthcare network in highland areas.

A fundamental and systematic method used by the Điện Biên health sector to improve basic healthcare capacity in highland areas is the implementation of the project “Pilot of young volunteer doctors working in mountainous, deep-lying, and remote areas” (Project 585). The core of the project lies not just in the number of doctors sent for training, but in selecting specialties directly linked to the “bottlenecks” of grassroots and highland healthcare. In 2025, 13 doctors were trained as level I specialists, all focusing on fields such as emergency resuscitation, diagnostic imaging, infectious diseases, obsTếtrics-pediatrics, and surgery. These are specialties that, if lacking, force patients to be referred early, increasing costs and risks, especially for those in remote areas with difficult transport. When the team of young doctors trained under the project returns for long-term work, basic healthcare capacity is not only supplemented in terms of personnel but also upgraded professionally, becoming capable of receiving, classifying, and providing initial treatment for many cases at the lower levels.

In late December 2025, the health sector reinforced 108 provincial health officials to work at 45 health stations. Following that, in early January 2026, the sector continued a second round with 15 health officials from the treatment and preventive systems to reinforce nine communes facing many difficulties. Supplementing human resources through “hand-holding” guidance and direct placement at the commune level has created a change in both methods and operational capacity. Through daily work, professional experience is transmitted directly in a real environment, helping grassroots health officials understand correctly and master technical procedures rather than just grasping theoretical knowledge. More importantly, this solution contributes to forming professional autonomy for commune-level health, step-by-step affirming the frontline role in people’s health care.

With the synchronous implementation of solutions to improve basic healthcare capacity in highland areas, the percentage of the population under health management increased from 3.2% in 2022 to 65.7% in 2025, while the average life expectancy increased from 68.44 years in 2021 to 70 years in 2025. Phạm Giang Nam, Director of the Department of Health, stated that for 2026, the health sector identifies it as the year to “start, build a foundation, and breakthrough” for the 2026–2030 period. The top priority is consolidating basic healthcare according to the spirit of Resolution No. 72 of the Politburo, linked to the two-level local government model. This involves a strong shift from a mindset of examination and treatment to proactive disease prevention and comprehensive health care, especially in deep-lying, remote, and border areas.

The basic healthcare capacity of the Điện Biên highland area is being consolidated through systematic and synchronous strategies with a long-term vision, using people and professional capacity as the foundation. This is an important prerequisite to step-by-step affirm the role of basic healthcare in the provincial health system, reducing pressure on higher levels and improving the efficiency of people’s health management and care right from the grassroots, fitting the development requirements and practical conditions of the locality.