Propose Meta, Shopee control and prevent the purchase and sale of prescription drugs

According to Mr. Le Viet Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Drug Administration, Ministry of Health, this proposal of the Ministry of Health was made after the unit received information reflecting the situation of buying and selling drugs on social networks, including prescription drugs and drugs subject to special control.

Mr. Le Viet Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Drug Administration, Ministry of Health

The bans come into effect from July 2025.

Mr. Dung also said that to strengthen the management of pharmaceutical business activities through e-commerce, on November 21, 2024, the National Assembly issued Law No. 44/2024/QH15 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy. This Law takes effect from July 1, 2025, including provisions on prohibited acts.

Specifically, the Law on Pharmacy (amended) prohibits the retail sale of prescription drugs via e-commerce, except in cases of medical isolation when there is an infectious disease in group A that has been declared an epidemic according to the provisions of the law on prevention and control of infectious diseases; drugs subject to special control; drugs on the list of drugs restricted from retail sale.

This Law also prohibits the wholesale sale of specially controlled drugs through e-commerce; prohibits the trading of drugs and drug ingredients through e-commerce through means other than e-commerce trading floors, e-commerce sales applications, and electronic information pages (also known as e-commerce websites) that have online ordering functions.

The amended Law on Pharmacy also prohibits the trading of pharmaceuticals at places other than the business locations stated on the Certificate of Eligibility for Pharmaceutical Business or permitted by a competent state agency, except for buying and selling activities by e-commerce.

Health Departments Health Departments strengthen dissemination of regulations on the pharmaceutical sector to pharmaceutical businesses - Photo: VGP/HM

Strengthen inspection and supervision of retail establishments

To ensure safety for users and provide enough quality drugs for people, the Drug Administration of Vietnam requests the Departments of Health of provinces and cities to direct and coordinate with relevant units to strengthen inspection, supervision and monitoring of pharmaceutical business establishments to properly implement professional regulations and regulations in pharmaceutical business.

In particular, the Departments of Health must strengthen inspection and supervision of drug retail establishments in the area, in order to detect and prevent the trading of drugs at places other than the business locations stated on the Certificate of Eligibility for Drug Business or permitted by competent state agencies (currently online trading); buying and selling prescription drugs and drugs subject to special control in violation of regulations and strictly handling violations.

The Drug Administration also requested the Departments of Health to increase dissemination of regulations on the pharmaceutical sector to pharmaceutical businesses, requiring pharmaceutical businesses to focus on checking and controlling the origin of drugs, drug quality, and expiry date of drugs before circulating them on the market; increase inspection of legal documents of suppliers and customers; only buy and sell drugs to licensed pharmaceutical businesses.

The Departments of Health are responsible for coordinating with media agencies to propagate and provide information to people to only buy medicine from legal pharmaceutical businesses, medicine with full information about its origin; do not buy medicine based on inaccurate information on social networking sites; increase information to people to be "smart consumers".

Thuy Ha

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/de-nghi-meta-shopee-kiem-soat-ngan-chan-viec-mua-ban-thuoc-phai-ke-don-10225042119480008.htm