Are doctor's visits and medication relatively cheap in Vietnam?

Please take my advise as simply a caution. There are doctors here and "doctors". Use a reputable clinic or the FV hospital in Saigon.

theSpringZone wrote:

I take a number of meds and am wondering if medication is inexpensive in Vietnam?

Perhaps you need to be more specific than "a number of meds."  Availability has a lot to do with what medications you are taking for which chronic conditions.  There have been several threads here lately that bemoan the unavailability of certain drugs that are often prescribed in the US.  These are mostly the synthetic opioids and certain amphetamines.   If you absolutely require these drugs, you might want to reconsider moving to Vietnam.

If you are talking about blood pressure medications you should be OK and you can probably get them without a prescription.  Be sure that you know the generic or even scientific names.  Same for insulin but  I don't know about needles, which may take an Rx from a local doctor.  Prices should be a lot less than US prices especially if you do not have drug insurance coverage.

Appreciate the reply! Escitalopram (Lexapro) and Methylphenidate (Ritalin) are the meds I'm on. I'm wondering if these are available in Vietnam, at least in generic form or even something from India?

I though that these medications might be the case.  Based on your apparent age it is unlikely that you would have hypertension, although I did at your age, as did my father and one of my sons.

Here are two recent discussions that touch on Ritalin and other ADHD medications: 
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=670292https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=721449
Both discussions and recommendations revolve around HCMC rather than Hanoi but It seems like the only option may be to see a local psychiatrist and then buy the products only at the same hospital's pharmacy. 

If you are sure you want to move to Hanoi, I would suggest that getting this out of the way should be your first priority after finding a roof over your head.   I see that Escitalopram is an anti-anxiety medication.  This is a layman's observation but if anxiety is a problem, Vietnam may not be the best place to live. 

Well, Vietnam sure has to be better than A-Stan and Iraq 

But on a more serious note, thank you for the thorough responses and assistance regarding my questions. I'm confident I won't have a problem, though it will more than likely be a pain in the ass compared to the U.S. But then again, maybe not. I'll research some more and cross my fingers and say a prayer lol

did you google?
- "viet nam" Escitalopram
[with the quotes bc that is how it is spelled here]
Lot of Vietnamese websites you can try to translate with google Chrome

- india Escitalopram
"The generic Escitalopram is manufactured by 97 companies.  Please also note
that Medindia's database currently has 227 Brands of Generics of Escitalopram
listed"

Google says yes, available

Thanks gobot!