Healthcare is a right, not a privilege By Nitin Kapoor  April 7, 2021 | 06:10 pm GMT+7 Achieving universal healthcare, while being a noble pursuit, is not without challenges, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. To do that, global cooperation is essential. Nitin Kapoor Around this time last year when Covid-19 first affected communities globally and in Vietnam, as a resident in Vietnam, I remember following the Vietnamese government’s daily briefings and feeling so moved when it was announced: central quarantine at government facilities would provisionally be free for all. Foreign visitors and expats would only have to pay for hospital fees if they tested positive with coronavirus, and everyone would be treated equally and with dignity. At peak periods, there were easily more than 50,000 people in quarantine at different locations, so the costs that the government was shouldering must have been significant.