In order to create favorable conditions for the consideration, approval and grant of private medical or pharmaceutical practice certificates, and for the post-equitization State enterprises to have time for personnel training and arrangement, the Health Ministry hereby guides the amendments and supplements to a number of points of Circular No. 01/2004/TT-BYT of January 6, 2004 guiding the private medical or pharmaceutical practice (hereinafter called Circular No. 01 for short) as follows:

1. To guide the supplements to Point c, Clause 1, Article 64 and Clause 1, Article 72 of Circular No. 01 as follows:

Foreigners and overseas Vietnamese applying for private medical or pharmaceutical practice certificates or permits to work in medical examination and/or treatment establishments in Vietnam shall have to submit their dossiers according to the provisions of Point c, Clause 1, Article 64 and Clause 1, Article 72 of Circular No. 01. The professional diplomas and other papers prescribed to be included in such dossiers, and granted or notarized or authenticated by foreign agencies must be consularly legalized and translated into Vietnamese, and the Vietnamese versions must be notarized according to the provisions of the Foreign Affairs Ministry's Circular No. 01/1999/TT-NG of June 3, 1999 promulgating the Regulation on legalization of papers and documents.

2. To amend and supplement the provisions of Point 2, Clause 8, Article 79 of Circular No. 01 as follows:

If the heads of the eyeglass service establishments set up before the effective date of Circular No. 01 still fail to satisfy the conditions prescribed in Clause 1, Article 13 of Circular No. 01, such establishments must draw up plans on training their heads so that by January 31, 2005, these persons can satisfy the above-mentioned conditions.

The State enterprises which, after being equitized, have sufficient pharmacists of university or intermediate degree, shall comply with the provisions of Points c and d, Clause 2, Article 46 and Points c and d, Clause 2, Article 47 of Circular No. 01. If having insufficient personnel to comply with the above stipulations, the enterprises' medicine-selling establishments run by prescription clerks and set up before June 1, 2003 in cities, provincial capitals and district townships shall be allowed to continue their operations until December 31, 2005. Afterward, the heads of the said establishments must satisfy the conditions prescribed at Points c and d, Clause 2, Article 46 and Points c and d, Clause 2, Article 47 of Circular No. 01.

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette. The previous stipulations contrary to this Circular and the Health Ministry's Circular No. 08/2002/TT-BYT of June 20, 2002 guiding the foreign cooperation and investment in the field of medical examination and treatment with traditional medicine in Vietnam are all hereby annulled.

Minister of Health
TRAN THI TRUNG CHIEN