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Pham Khanh Phong Lan, vice director of HCM City Department of Health raised concerns over the quality of future doctors as increasing numbers of universities are seeking permission to open their own medicine faculties.

Hanoi University of Business and Technology was recently given permission by the Education and Training Ministry to open a new medical faculty. According to Lan, several private universities, issued plans to open new medicine faculties which would be open to students with average or low marks.

Hanoi University of Business and Technology and other universities argue that Vietnam is in need of doctors and they are helping meet market demand. However, Lan said private educators should concentrate on improving quality, not merely recruiting poorer quality students.

She said, "Bachelor degrees from many universities are losing their credibility. People are flocking to universities to earn a degree, but after graduation, they still don't have enough skills for their real jobs. This problem is even more important in the health sector because doctors make life or death decisions."

Lan said ways should be found to improve the quality of medical staff instead of increasing the quantity. Graduates who cannot find jobs in hospitals often open their own clinics and could pose a risk to the public.

"We blame everything on overcrowding and a lack of doctors. But the truth is people don't want to go to communal or district medical facilities because they don't trust the quality of the staff there," she said.

She went on to say that state agencies must carry out inspections carefully before giving approval for new medicine faculties. And after that, they still need to carry out inspections to see if those universities can maintain their standards.

"In October, the Health Ministry announced that Hanoi University of Business and Technology still needs to address some problems before they would be allowed to open new medicine faculty. However, while the Ministry of Education and Training asked various universities to stop recruiting students for medicine, it gave approval to Hanoi University of Business and Technology. We need a clearer explanation and the Health Ministry needs to issue clearer standards. If the Education Ministry agrees to this faculty while the Health Ministry doesn't, then the Education Ministry must take all the responsibility for what could happen," Lan said.