National Assembly delegates question drug shortages at medical facilities

Solving the drug shortage in hospitals

Participating in the questioning, National Assembly delegate Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy (National Assembly delegation of Tay Ninh province) said that the delay in paying health insurance costs to hospitals, despite many years of petitions, has not been completely resolved, causing difficulties for medical examination and treatment and even affecting drug bidding. The recent drug shortage was due to financial difficulties. The Ministry of Health has issued instructions but in reality, it has not yet resolved the difficulties of many localities across the country, especially the drug shortage at the district and commune levels.

National Assembly Delegate Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy (National Assembly Delegation of Tay Ninh Province) questions. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Faced with the above reality, National Assembly delegate Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy proposed to resolve the above problem for hospitals, and if necessary, propose a specific mechanism to completely handle the above situation.

Responding to the question of delegate Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that recently, the Ministry of Health has coordinated with the Vietnam Social Security Agency to resolve the outstanding debt of over VND 11,000 billion. Currently, Vietnam Social Security is also coordinating with localities to allocate to medical facilities to resolve the outstanding debt issue.

"If this outstanding debt is returned to medical facilities and according to regulations, this will be a huge resource for medical facilities to ensure conditions for purchasing and bidding for drugs," shared Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan.

People cannot buy medicine at hospital pharmacies.

Raising the question, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy (National Assembly delegation of Bac Kan province) said that according to the reflection of hospital pharmacies, there are still difficulties in bidding for drugs and in reality there are still times when people finish their medical examination but cannot buy drugs at the hospital pharmacy, affecting treatment. Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy asked the Minister of Health to tell her where this problem comes from and when it will be resolved?

According to National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy (National Assembly delegation of Bac Kan province), in reality, there are still times when people finish their medical examination but cannot buy medicine at the hospital pharmacy. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Regarding the issue of hospital pharmacies, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that in the recent past, the National Assembly and the Government have had many policy solutions to solve the problem of drug shortages. Regarding the issue of hospital pharmacies, these are pharmacies managed by hospitals and organized to buy retail to sell to people when needed, without taking money from the budget or health insurance.

Previously, procurement was entirely decided by the hospital, but the 2023 Bidding Law stipulates that hospital pharmacies must also organize bidding. This issue is currently facing difficulties, but the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Pharmacy Law will overcome this content.

Delegate To Van Tam - National Assembly Delegation of Kon Tum province debates. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Develop a handbook for drug bidding

Participating in the debate, National Assembly delegate To Van Tam (National Assembly delegation of Kon Tum province) said that the drug shortage situation as questioned by the delegate still exists. "So are there still some departments lacking a sense of responsibility in the bidding process of these medical facilities? If so, how will the Minister handle it?" - delegate To Van Tam asked.

Regarding the debate of delegate To Van Tam, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that there are 3 levels of bidding for drug purchases: centralized procurement at the Ministry of Health; procurement at the provincial level and assignment to localities to direct implementation; procurement at medical facilities.

According to Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan, with the difficulties in the recent past, the National Assembly and the Government have resolved many issues and the Law on Bidding has come into effect since January 1, 2024. However, this is the first year of implementing the new regulations. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has worked with localities and regularly organized online conferences to deploy instructions for implementing the Law on Bidding in 63 provinces and cities. The cause of the difficulties is that due to the new regulations, research, understanding and human resource arrangement for implementation are still difficult...

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health is currently developing a handbook to guide drug bidding. Photo: Quochoi.vn

To solve this problem, in addition to training all localities to solve difficulties, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health is currently developing a handbook on drug bidding, which will be a very specific, step-by-step guide so that localities have enough capacity to implement it.

In addition, in practice, in some units, there are still cadres who do not dare to think, dare to do and are afraid of making mistakes, so the implementation process is still difficult and entangled. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has also issued a Directive stipulating the responsibility of the heads of all medical examination and treatment facilities to fully perform their responsibilities related to ensuring adequate medicine, equipment and medical supplies. This content has also been stipulated in the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended) and this is a mandatory responsibility.

"In addition, the Ministry of Health will continue to support leaders in the implementation process and will continue to resolve any remaining problems," Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan affirmed.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-chat-van-tinh-trang-thieu-thuoc-tai-cac-co-so-y-te.html