Why Have Resident Doctors Captured The Attention Of Vietnamese People?

In September 2025, a livestream of Hanoi Medical University’s Match Day, when successful resident-doctor candidates selected their specialties, went viral and became a nationwide social media phenomenon.

The broadcast featured none of the drama or sensational twists typically associated with viral content. It was simply an academic event streamed on the university’s social media page for lecturers and family members who could not attend in person.

Yet this was not a one-off phenomenon. In 2026, public and media interest began building even before Hanoi Medical University’s residency examination took place. Although the university did not livestream this year’s ceremony, social media remained flooded with profiles of successful candidates, their academic achievements and the remarkable stories behind their journeys.

So what lies behind this fascination?

Vietnam’s Long-Standing Appreciation for Doctors

More than mere curiosity or admiration, respect for doctors is a deeply rooted tradition that has been woven into Vietnamese culture for centuries.

During the feudal era, doctors were known as “thầy thuốc” or “thầy lang.” The word “thầy” carries the same meaning as it does in “thầy giáo” (teacher), a role traditionally placed alongside “quân-sư-phụ” (king, teacher and father). This reflected the elevated social standing of medical practitioners and the profound respect accorded to them.

During the period of French colonisation, modern Western medicine was introduced to Vietnam. Hospitals and medical schools were established, giving rise to a new class of formally trained and professionally qualified doctors with clearly recognised social status. The term “bác sĩ” gradually came to replace “thầy thuốc,” which became more closely associated with traditional Eastern medicine. According to Đại Nam quấc âm tự vị, a late-19th-century Vietnamese dictionary, “bác sĩ” referred to “bậc thông minh, rộng học” (a person of intelligence and extensive learning).

Yet the respect Vietnamese people hold for the medical profession has remained unchanged. When addressing a doctor, Vietnamese people typically adopt deferential forms of self-reference such as “em,” “con,” “cháu” or “tôi,” rather than pronouns denoting seniority—even when the patient is considerably older than the doctor. In many cases, doctors are simply addressed as “bác,” a kinship term carrying the respectful connotation of an older and more senior family member.

For high-achieving students in Vietnam, Medicine is attractive not only because of the nature of the profession itself, but also because of its social prestige, the respect it commands and the intellectual challenge it presents. Since their establishment, Vietnam’s medical schools have maintained exceptionally high academic and admission standards. Over the past decade, admission scores for Medicine at leading institutions such as Hanoi Medical University (HMU) and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City (UMP) have consistently ranged from 27-29/30, equivalent to an average of more than 9.0-9.6/10 in each subject.

The residency examination, therefore represents the pinnacle of this already highly selective system. Each year, Hanoi Medical University’s residency examination attracts nearly 1,000 graduates from medical schools across the country. Just over half pass the examination, while places in around 40 specialties are allocated in descending order of candidates’ scores. On Vietnamese social media, the residency examination has therefore been described as a competition among the “elite of the elite.”

Match Day has therefore become a social phenomenon not because of its entertainment value, but because it reflects Vietnamese people’s admiration for those they regard as the society’s intellectual elite, and their own aspiration for upward mobility.

Social Prestige Versus Everyday Reality

Despite its prestige, medicine in Vietnam brings immense pressure and modest financial rewards.

In 2026, newly qualified doctors at public hospitals earned a base salary of just over VND6 million (US$230) per month. At top-tier hospitals, a 24-hour shift earned them an additional VND115,000 (US$4.40), plus VND15,000 (US$0.60) for meals. A lead surgeon received VND280,000 (US$10.60) for a complex operation that could last more than eight hours, while assistants received VND200,000 (US$7.60).

Doctors also face chronic overcrowding. On September 7, 2026 alone, Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City received a record 10,000 patient visits.

For doctors who spend six or seven years in medical school and pass intensely competitive examinations, including the residency exam, such compensation hardly reflects their training, workload or responsibility.

Despite these conditions, many doctors continue working in Vietnam’s public hospitals and treating patients with compassion and dedication.

Beyond the Hippocratic Oath and the Ministry of Health’s 12 ethical principles, Vietnamese medical students are taught one defining maxim: “Lương y phải như từ mẫu” (“A good physician must be like a devoted mother”). Rooted in Eastern medicine, the saying became a guiding principle of Vietnam’s healthcare sector following a letter written by Hồ Chí Minh on February 27, 1955.

The maxim calls on doctors to treat every patient with a mother’s devotion: caring without prejudice, persevering through hardship and placing human life above wealth or social status. In the treatment room, there should be neither rich nor poor, powerful nor powerless –only a person in need of care.

This helps explain why Vietnam’s residency Match Day resonates so deeply. The public is not merely watching young doctors choose their specialties; it is witnessing the culmination of years of discipline, intellectual ambition and sacrifice, and the beginning of an even more demanding journey.

The attention surrounding Match Day also highlights a contrast within Vietnam’s medical profession. Doctors continue to command considerable public respect, yet many work long hours under intense pressure for relatively modest pay. Behind the celebration, therefore, is a broader story about the prestige attached to medicine, the commitment it requires and the gap between doctors’ social standing and their working conditions.