History of the Establishment and Development of the Indochina Medical College

The Indochina Medical College (French: École de Médecine de l'Indochine) was the first Western-style public medical institution in Vietnam and French Indochina. Its founding marked a major historical milestone, laying the cornerstone for modern medicine in Vietnam and serving as the direct predecessor to both Hanoi Medical University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy today.

1. Context and Beginnings (1898–1902)

• Initial Concept (1898): On August 12, 1898, Governor-General of French Indochina Paul Doumer signed a decree establishing a study committee to design a framework for a medical school in Indochina.

• Establishment (1902): On January 8, 1902, the Hanoi Medical School was officially founded. The renowned scientist and physician Alexandre Yersin was appointed as its first principal.

• Initial Campus: The school opened its first campus in Thai Ha village (Hanoi) on a modest scale, attached to a small teaching hospital of about 40 beds.

2. Developmental Phases and Academic Upgrades (1904–1945)

• Expansion and Mergers (1904–1917):

  • In 1904, the school was officially renamed the Indochina Medical College.

  • In 1906, the protectorate administration built the Protectorate Hospital (Hôpital du Protectorat, commonly known as Phu Doan Hospital, now Viet Duc University Hospital) as the main teaching hospital for students.

  • In 1914, a Department of Pharmacy was added to train pharmacists.

• Evolution into a Full University (1921–1936):

  • In 1921, the institution was upgraded to the Indochina University of Medicine and Pharmacy (École de plein exercice de médecine et de pharmacie de l'Indochine).

  • In 1935, a major milestone was reached when medical students in Hanoi were permitted to defend their doctoral dissertations directly at the school before a panel of professors sent from the University of Paris, rather than traveling to France. René Robin Hospital (now Bach Mai Hospital) also became a teaching hospital affiliated with the institution.

3. Historical Transition (1945–1954)

• Post-August Revolution (1945): The Democratic Republic of Vietnam took over the school and renamed it the Hanoi University of Medicine and Pharmacy, with Prof. Ho Dac Di appointed as principal.

• French Indochina War: The school split into two operational tracks:

  • One branch relocated with the resistance government to the Viet Bac military zone to continue training physicians for the battlefield.

  • The French administration re-established the Hanoi facility and founded a medical branch in Saigon (1947).

• Post-1954: Following the Geneva Accords, the Indochina Medical College concluded its historical role:

  • The Hanoi branch became Hanoi Medical University (from which Hanoi University of Pharmacy was later split).

  • The southern branch evolved into the Saigon Faculty of Medicine, the predecessor to Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy today.

Historical Legacy

The Indochina Medical College was the cradle that trained the first generation of legendary master physicians in modern Vietnamese medicine, including Prof. Ho Dac Di, Prof. Ton That Tung (a world-renowned pioneer in liver surgery), Prof. Dang Van Ngu (parasitologist), Prof. Dang Van Chung, and many other eminent medical figures.

• Register & Style: Uses formal academic English appropriate for historical documentation and institutional archives.

• Key Terminology: Preserves official French historical names alongside modern English titles (e.g., École de Médecine de l'Indochine to Indochina Medical College).

• Institutional Lineage: Highlights the historical continuity between early French colonial medical education and present-day Vietnamese medical universities.