Ho Chi Minh City's Free Health Check Program Reaches 1.5 Million People

The nationwide health check program in Ho Chi Minh City has reached nearly 1.5 million people after more than two months, maintaining over 300,000 people screened for two consecutive weeks. On August 3, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Tang Chi Thượng said that nearly 1.5 million people had received health check-ups as of the morning of the same day. In the past week alone, the number of people participating in the second week exceeded 300,000. According to Mr. Thượng, the program is now focusing not only on increasing the number of people screened but also on completing electronic health records for each resident. This data will help the health sector monitor long-term health, stratify risks, and detect diseases early. After more than two months of implementation, the pace of health check-ups has increased rapidly. While the early weeks recorded only about 24,000-65,000 check-ups per week, from mid-July, the number of people screened continuously exceeded the milestones of 150,000 and then 240,000, reaching a peak of over 329,000 in the week of July 20-26 and continuing to maintain over 300,000 in the following week. In parallel with community health check-ups, the health sector is also updating the results of periodic health check-ups for workers onto the Community Health Management Platform. Currently, data for nearly 189,000 workers, equivalent to about 3% of the city's total labor force, has been uploaded to the system. This number is expected to continue to increase as businesses and healthcare facilities complete data transfer this year. In the past week, Dong Thanh commune, Tang Nhon Phu ward, Long Hai commune, Binh Tan ward, and Tan Hiep ward were the localities with the highest number of people screened. To date, 7 wards and communes and special zones have had over 30% of their population screened, with Phuoc Thang ward leading with a rate of nearly 60%. Conversely, there are still 14 wards with less than 5% of their residents screened, the lowest being Ben Thanh ward. The Department of Health has requested these localities to review the reasons, strengthen communication, and coordinate with healthcare facilities to accelerate progress. According to Mr. Thượng, the important task now is to not miss those who have been screened but not yet updated to the system. Localities are asked to continue reviewing each household, recording cases that have undergone periodic health check-ups at their agencies, businesses, schools, or healthcare facilities in 2026 to supplement data and complete electronic health records for each resident. Health Department leaders said the program is entering a new phase, where data quality is considered as important as the number of participants. When health check-up information is fully updated, the health sector can stratify risks and proactively notify and guide high-risk individuals to healthcare facilities for early diagnosis and treatment, rather than just intervening when the disease has progressed. Ho Chi Minh City's current population is about 14 million people. Source: VnExpress