Delays by the Ministry of Health lead to shortages of drugs and medical equipment.

The Government Inspectorate said that the rate of overdue administrative procedures in the fields of pharmacy, traditional medicine, and equipment under the Ministry of Health is very high, with backlogs for many years, "which is one of the factors leading to the shortage of drugs and equipment".

Deputy Inspector General of the Government Nguyen Van Cuong requested the Ministry of Health and other agencies to develop a plan to seriously implement the inspection conclusion - Photo: TTCP

On the afternoon of December 6, the Government Inspectorate issued a conclusion on the inspection of the responsibility for performing public duties of cadres, civil servants, and public employees in handling administrative procedures and providing public services to people and businesses at the Ministry of Health.

The inspection agency pointed out many shortcomings and defects in handling administrative procedures at the Ministry of Health.

Notably, the Government Inspectorate pointed out that the delay in handling administrative procedures at the Ministry of Health not only causes inconvenience to people and businesses but also leads to a shortage of medicines and equipment. This also risks "creating a mechanism of asking for and giving", lack of transparency and "causing public outrage".

The rate of overdue records is nearly 70%, while the Government report is only 4.97%

The conclusion stated that the review, assessment, reduction, simplification of administrative procedures, and decentralization of administrative procedures at the Ministry of Health were slow, incomplete, and not in accordance with the Government's resolution and the Prime Minister's direction.

Through inspection of 20 administrative procedures and 55 administrative procedure settlement records at 5 units under the Ministry of Health including the Department of Drug Administration, Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, Department of Food Safety, Department of Traditional Medicine Management, Department of Infrastructure and Medical Equipment, the Government Inspectorate discovered many shortcomings and violations.

According to the Inspectorate, the Ministry of Health reported that the results of handling administrative procedure records did not reflect the actual situation, the data was inaccurate, "there were a large number of overdue records but the handling was very slow".

The Ministry of Justice periodically reported to the Government that the rate of overdue records in the 2021-2023 period was 4.97%. However, the actual rate of overdue records reviewed was 69.8% (an increase of more than 64% compared to the number reported by the Ministry), the conclusion stated.

Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen accepted the inspection conclusion and said he would strictly implement the recommendations of the Government Inspectorate - Photo: TTCP

The inspection results showed that there were 19 administrative procedures with overdue records, 10 administrative procedures overdue by more than 50%, and some administrative procedures overdue by 89-90%.

Notably, some administrative procedures have overdue records of over 400 days on average. Some records take 2-4 years to receive, transfer, review and request additional records, while the regulation is 3 working days, the conclusion stated.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health's procedure handling agency "did not apologize to people and businesses" as prescribed when the documents were overdue.

Drug Administration loosens management

At the Drug Administration Department, the Government Inspectorate discovered that there was a situation where dossiers were submitted first and assessed first but were not processed first according to the principle. When assigning dossiers to experts for assessment, the priority order of assessment of each specific dossier and the deadline for completion were not specified.

The Drug Administration Department has not yet fully disclosed the status of the file processing on the administrative procedure settlement information system of the Ministry of Health.

The monitoring and management of the administrative procedure settlement process is concluded to have many limitations and weaknesses. In many cases, the settlement period has expired but the records are still monitored and reported as being settled.

According to the conclusion, the Drug Administration Department has loosened the management and monitoring of the detailed list of administrative procedure settlement records of 3 administrative procedures, including: "Issuance, extension, change and supplementation of drug and pharmaceutical ingredient circulation registration certificates" arising before 2020, which were resolved during the inspection period or had not been resolved by the time of inspection.

Causes shortage of drugs and equipment

At the above 5 units, the Government Inspectorate confirmed that there were situations where businesses were required to supplement and complete documents beyond regulations, and required to supplement more than the prescribed number of times.

These units also have incomplete and unclear requirements, require additional information when regulations have been abolished, or require additional documents proving that the factors constituting drug prices are applied incorrectly according to legal regulations...

From there, according to the inspector, it leads to businesses having to supplement and explain many times, causing trouble for businesses.

The results of a sample inspection of 20 administrative procedures show that the rate of overdue files in the fields of pharmacy, traditional medicine, and medical equipment is very high, with backlogs for many years.

The Government Inspectorate said that the delay in handling the above administrative procedures "is one of the factors leading to the shortage of drugs and equipment".

Along with the limitations and weaknesses in records management, not fully complying with the principles in handling records, according to the inspection conclusion, there is a "risk of creating a mechanism of asking for and giving", causing inconvenience, not ensuring objectivity, fairness, and transparency in handling administrative procedures, causing frustration for people, businesses and public opinion.

Ministry of Health conducts review of responsibility of leaders

The Government Inspectorate requested the Ministry of Health to request the Drug Administration Department to have solutions and resolutely implement rectification and immediately overcome the lax management and monitoring of records to resolve a number of administrative procedures.

The Ministry of Health shall rectify and enhance public service responsibilities, overcome shortcomings in the issuance of certificates of advertising content for health protection foods, medicines, and medical examination and treatment services, and ensure that businesses advertise honestly and do not mislead people and society.

"Fully implement the appraisal process and strengthen inspection and examination work, especially in cases of health food advertisements that differ from the registered content, easily causing misunderstandings about the uses, origin, and quality, which can affect people's health and cause waste in society," the conclusion stated.

The Inspectorate also requested the Ministry of Health to review and complete legal regulations to prevent abuse of conditions and procedures for registration of health protection food products to register for drug products (if any).

The Ministry of Health shall strengthen inspection and examination of the responsibilities of officials, civil servants, and heads of departments and offices under the Ministry that handle administrative procedures with many pending records, promptly handle violations, and rectify management.

"Based on the inspection conclusion and direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health will review the responsibility of the head and the responsibility of the leaders of the Ministry of Health related to shortcomings, defects, and violations in state management and the settlement of administrative procedures and the provision of public services to people and businesses.

According to the authority to direct and review with the leaders of departments, divisions, units, collectives and individuals under the Ministry of Health related to shortcomings, defects and violations", the Government Inspectorate proposed.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cham-tre-cua-bo-y-te-dan-den-khan-hiem-thuoc-thiet-bi-y-te-20241206200911414.htm