> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://en.thevietmedia.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What Do BSNT and CK1 Mean Before a Vietnamese Doctor's Name? With No National Exam, These Letters Show Their Training - URL: https://en.thevietmedia.net/vietnam-doctor-licensing-system/ - Published: 2026-11-05T09:13:41.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T09:14:02.000Z - Description: Until the end of 2026, Vietnamese medical graduates can apply for a license after 12 months of hospital practice, with no national exam. So what do the letters on clinic signs mean? - Author: The Viet Media - Tags: Living \[What Do BSNT and CK1 Mean Before a Vietnamese Doctor's Name? With No National Exam, These Letters Show Their Training\] If you've seen a doctor in Vietnam, you've probably noticed the letters in front of their name: BSNT, CK1, CK2\. They show what training the doctor has completed. To make sense of them, start with a fact that surprises many foreigners: doctors in Vietnam still don't sit a national licensing exam. In Taiwan, medical students study for six years and must pass a national exam to receive a medical license. Vietnam's medical degree also takes six years, but there is no nationwide licensing exam. Graduates can apply for a license after 12 months of practice in a hospital, rotating through general clinical departments, the emergency room and intensive care. Without a national exam, titles are one of the few clues patients have about a doctor's training. The hardest to earn is BSNT, short for bác sĩ nội trú. It translates as "resident doctor," but it isn't the same as residency in Taiwan. In Vietnam, nội trú is an elite specialist track that graduates must win a separate entrance exam to join. Only about 5% to 10% of each medical class gets in. It isn't easy once you're in, either. Trainees generally receive no salary and pay their own tuition. Only a few state-priority specialties, such as psychiatry, pathology, infectious diseases and emergency and intensive care, have their tuition and living costs covered by the government. In August 2026, Ho Chi Minh City approved full tuition support for nội trú trainees at public medical schools, on condition that they work at a city-run public hospital for at least six years after finishing. More common are CK1 and CK2, the first- and second-level specialist qualifications, with CK2 the higher of the two. Lin Cheng-Kuan, a Taiwanese doctor who runs a clinic in Ho Chi Minh City, told The Viet Media in an interview that doctors can apply for CK1 once they are licensed. The training takes about two years, he says, with both online and in-person classes, and many doctors work part-time at other hospitals or clinics during that time. CK2, according to Lin, is open to those who already hold a CK1, have completed nội trú, or have a master's in medicine (thạc sĩ, ThS), and who have the required clinical experience and English at B1 level or above. In his view, CK1 is roughly equivalent to a clinical master's degree and CK2 to a clinical doctorate (tiến sĩ, TS). Once licensed, doctors must renew every five years. In that time, they need at least 120 credit hours of continuing education, roughly 120 class sessions. Vietnam's licenses have another distinctive feature: what a doctor can do is listed item by item in their scope of practice. To perform a new technique outside that scope, they first need a training certificate and then written approval from the person in charge of professional and technical matters at their facility. Lin says that in Vietnam, even a surgeon needs a certificate for each procedure. A cardiologist, for example, may not be allowed to perform a heart ultrasound, he says, because ultrasound is mostly done by diagnostic imaging doctors. A cardiologist who wants to do it has to apply for a separate training certificate, he adds, though such certificates aren't hard to get. The system is changing. Vietnam's Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (Luật Khám bệnh, chữa bệnh), which took effect in 2024, requires doctors to pass a national competency exam to get a license. It came with a three-year transition period, so the exam only becomes mandatory for new applicants from January 1, 2027\. The National Medical Council (Hội đồng Y khoa Quốc gia) plans to hold it twice in 2027, in March and December. Doctors already practicing don't need to take it, and neither does anyone who applies before the end of 2026\. Anyone applying from 2027 onward must sit the exam, even if they graduated years earlier. The titles themselves may also be reshuffled. In August 2026, the Ministry of Health released a draft regulation that would scrap the CK1 and CK2 levels and replace them with a single specialist degree. It is still open for public comment. If it passes, the letters on clinic signs will change too. Foreign doctors working in Vietnam face an additional language requirement: from 2032, Vietnamese proficiency will become a licensing condition. Foreign doctors can use their registered language with patients who share their native language or can use that language. With other foreign patients, an interpreter must be present. In either case, medical records must also be translated into Vietnamese. Next time you see BSNT, CK1, CK2, ThS or TS in front of a doctor's name in Vietnam, you'll at least know which training path they took. --- **The Viet Media Pro**: at least four in-depth articles a month, access to every paid article, building into a knowledge base on Vietnam's policy, industries, companies, and people. ![The Viet Media Pro plans and pricing](https://en.thevietmedia.net/content/images/2026/09/price-card.en.png) [**Subscribe to The Viet Media Pro →**](https://thevietmedia.net/?ref=en.thevietmedia.net#/portal/signup)