Prime Minister directs Ministry of Health to guide hospitals to collect fees without cash

This is one of the contents of Directive No. 22/CT-TTg issued by the Prime Minister on promoting the implementation of solutions to develop non-cash payments in Vietnam.

On December 30, 2016, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 2545/QD-TTg approving the Project on developing non-cash payments in Vietnam for the period 2016 - 2020 (Decision 2545/QD-TTg). After nearly four years of implementing Decision 2545/QD-TTg, non-cash payment activities continue to develop positively.

However, the ratio of cash to total means of payment is still high compared to the target set in Decision 2545/QD-TTg (as of December 31, 2019, it was 11.33%); the use of cash is still quite popular in civil transactions of people, especially in rural areas, remote areas; electronic payments in e-commerce are still low; the implementation of non-cash payments in the fields of health and education is still modest; crimes in the fields of high technology and electronic payments have recently had complicated developments with new and more sophisticated behaviors and tricks...

To continue promoting the development of non-cash payments and electronic payments to achieve the goals of Decision 2545/QD-TTg, especially in the context of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister requested relevant ministries, branches and localities to actively and urgently carry out the main tasks assigned by the Prime Minister in Decision 2545/QD-TTg and the Government's Resolutions.

In particular, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) urgently completes the review, amendment, supplementation and completion of the legal framework for non-cash payment and electronic payment activities, meeting the requirements for developing new payment models and products and services; presides over and coordinates with relevant ministries and agencies to submit to the Government for consideration and promulgation of a Decree replacing the Decree on non-cash payment before July 1, 2020; continues to study and promulgate under its authority or submit to competent authorities for promulgation of appropriate mechanisms and policies on payment service fees to encourage organizations and individuals to make non-cash payments.

Continue to research and apply electronic customer authentication and identification (KYC) solutions to promote access to and use of payment services; strengthen inspection, examination, supervision, prevention and combat of money laundering and terrorist financing in non-cash payment activities, electronic payment, and payment intermediaries, ensuring security, safety and efficiency.

Promote electronic payments in all fields

The Prime Minister requested that relevant ministries must complete a number of tasks before July 1, 2020. Specifically, the Ministry of Industry and Trade must complete the issuance of mechanisms and policies to encourage retail establishments of goods and services to accept and use electronic payment methods; and encourage electronic payments in e-commerce.

The Ministry of Finance has specific instructions on the financial mechanism of administrative organizations and public service units in paying non-cash payment service fees to credit institutions and payment intermediary organizations to ensure feasible application and consistent implementation...

The Ministry of Health has completed directing and guiding hospitals to coordinate with credit institutions and payment intermediary organizations to collect medical service fees using non-cash payment methods.

Promoting solutions to develop cashless payments. Illustration photo.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Vietnam Social Security have completed the development and promulgation of guidelines, standards, and roadmaps for standardizing data information on pension recipients, social insurance benefits, and social security regimes to be able to connect and share information with credit institutions and payment intermediaries to make payments of social security benefits, pensions, and social insurance benefits through banks.

The Ministry of Public Security urgently completes the review, amendment and supplementation of regulations on ensuring security, safety, detection, prevention, suppression and handling of violations of the law in the field of electronic payment and payment intermediaries; completes the presiding over the construction of a database on handling administrative violations in the field of traffic; uniformly applies the identification of administrative violation fines; connects and shares fine collection information with the State Treasury, credit institutions and related units; applies non-cash payment methods in collecting administrative violation fines.

The Ministry of Transport urgently completes research and issues policies to encourage the development of multi-purpose, multi-functional cards, contactless cards, and non-physical cards for collecting road tolls, buying train and bus tickets, etc.