Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam holds huge potential inmedical tourism that is expected to help the country attract more foreigntourists, including those from Japan, Associate Prof., Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Health Ministry'sDepartment for Medical Examination and Treatment, has said.

Speaking at an online conference on Vietnam-Japancooperation in medical tourism, Khue said thanks to its successes in preventingand controlling COVID-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese health care sector has improvedits position in the world.

Alongside, the country is rich in a long-lasting traditionalmedicine, while Vietnamese acupuncturetechniques have been popularised and used in many countries, including Mexicoand Cuba.

Each year,Vietnamese people spend about 2 billion USD for medical services abroad.Meanwhile, in 2018, domestic hospitals received 300,000 patients who areoverseas Vietnamese and foreigners.

The quality of hospitalsin Vietnam has been improved over the past five years, said Khue, adding thatVietnamese doctors have mastered many medical high technologies with worldstandards.

Particularly,costs for medical services in Vietnam are much lower than those in manycountries, with higher treatment efficiency, the official said.

Khue noted thatcurrently, Vietnam is building a project to attract overseas Vietnamese andforeigners to use high-quality medical services in Vietnam in the 2021-2030period, which will initially cover a number of localities such as Hanoi, Ho ChiMinh City, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Hue, Da Nang and Khanh Hoa.

At the same time,in the future, more high quality clinics will be developed to serve bothVietnamese and foreign patients, he added./.