Central region: Patients struggle due to lack of medicine and medical supplies

According to readers' feedback, many hospitals and medical centers in the Central region are currently facing a shortage of medicine and medical supplies, causing patients to suffer from having to wait. Meanwhile, patients' families have to run everywhere to find medicine and medical supplies - the types that are covered by insurance.

Quang Nam General Hospital, where a shortage of medicine forced patients' families to buy medicine outside at 1am. Photo: NGUYEN CUONG

Run to buy emergency medicine in the middle of the night

At 11 p.m. on August 19, Mr. NTV transferred his relative from Thang Binh Hospital to Quang Nam General Hospital in critical condition for emergency treatment. After the emergency treatment, the doctors asked the patient's family to go out and buy medicine related to myocardial infarction, at that time it was nearly 1 a.m. on August 20. Mr. NTV had to run around Tam Ky City to find the medicine the doctor requested, but all the pharmacies were closed. Mr. NTV had to knock on each pharmacy door to find an opportunity to save his relative. "After going to dozens of pharmacies, there was one that was open, but there was no medicine. When he got to the hospital, his relative had been transferred to the Intensive Care Unit," Mr. NTV said. Later, Mr. NTV shared this information on social media. Many people commented, expressing their anger at the fact that the emergency department of Quang Nam General Hospital did not have medicine, forcing the patient's family to go out and buy it, especially medicine related to myocardial infarction. Some comments also sympathized with patients' families about the lack of medicine and supplies in hospitals.

This is just one of many cases where both patients and their relatives have difficulty going to the hospital for medical examination and treatment due to the lack of medicine and medical supplies. According to SGGP reporters at Da Nang Hospital, on the afternoon of August 20, at the Pharmacy Department of Da Nang Hospital, there were still people holding the hospital's prescription and going to an outside pharmacy to buy it. Mr. Nguyen Van M. (58 years old, residing in Dai Dong commune, Dai Loc district, Quang Nam province) said that he had a colon disease and was hospitalized. Da Nang Hospital prescribed two items of medicine. Of which, there was an item about intravenous catheters, but the doctor told him to go outside to buy them because the hospital did not have them at the moment.

Similarly, Mrs. Nguyen Thi L. (51 years old, residing in Hoa Khuong commune, Hoa Vang district, Da Nang city) and her husband said that they were preparing to be discharged from the hospital after 5 days of hospitalization due to gastritis. When they went to get their medicine, the pharmacist informed them that there was no Enterogermina (probiotic tube yeast) and Levofloxacin 500mg. Mrs. L. and her husband had to go to the pharmacy opposite the hospital to buy more.

On August 21, SGGP reporters recorded the reality at a number of hospitals in Quy Nhon City (Binh Dinh Province) and found that there was still a situation where hospital pharmacies were short of medicine, and patients had to struggle to go out to buy many types of medicine. According to a record of nearly 1 hour at the pharmacy of Binh Dinh General Hospital, out of 10 patients who came to buy medicine, 4 patients had to go out to buy because the hospital did not have medicine. In Phu Yen Province, the shortage of medicine and medical supplies has been going on since 2023, at times causing many difficulties for the health sector and people of the province. However, the "thirst" has now improved, only occurring locally in some facilities and hospitals.

Many times, the pharmacy of Binh Dinh provincial hospital has a shortage of medicine, patients' relatives have to go out to buy medicine.

Drug shortage due to contractors not participating in bidding

Discussing the case of drug shortage in the emergency of Mr. NTV's relative, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Van Khoa, Deputy Director of Quang Nam General Hospital, confirmed that there are still some drugs that have been approved for bidding but have not been supplied or have run out, so they have to use drugs from outside. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Van Khoa said that not 100% of the drugs can participate in the bidding, including some drug batches that have no bidders participating, exceeding the planned price... Therefore, the hospital is promoting to re-organize the bidding to have drugs for medical examination and treatment. Meanwhile, Mr. Mai Van Muoi, Director of the Department of Health of Quang Nam province, said that currently, the bidding packages for the procurement of drugs, chemicals, and medical supplies at the local level for medical facilities in Quang Nam province have all had decisions approving the results of contractor selection. At the same time, the Department of Health has issued a document directing units to urgently sign contracts and proceed with the procurement according to the results of contractor selection. Therefore, it can be affirmed that at present, Quang Nam province has basically overcome the shortage of drugs, chemicals and medical supplies.

Regarding this issue, Dr. Le Duc Nhan, Director of Da Nang Hospital, said that the unit has just announced the plan to win the bid for 2 packages of medicine (1 package nearly 10 days ago, 1 package nearly 7 days ago). Regarding medical supplies and equipment, the unit has almost enough supplies. Typically, intravenous catheters will be available on August 21, only a few small items are still preparing bidding documents, and the results will be available in about half a month. According to Dr. Tran Thanh Thuy, Director of the Da Nang Department of Health, the problem of drug or medical supply shortages is only a temporary interruption. Because according to regulations, the organization of selecting contractors to purchase drugs at medical facilities is expected to take at least 2-3 months, leading to a disruption in the supply of some drugs, including health insurance drugs.

In a quick exchange with SGGP reporters, Mr. Le Quang Hung, Director of the Department of Health of Binh Dinh province, said that since 2 years ago, including the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, the locality has proactively and quickly implemented bidding packages for drugs, equipment, and medical supplies to catch up with the period of amending and supplementing the Law on Bidding. Therefore, up to now, the locality has basically not experienced a shortage of drugs and medical supplies that greatly affected medical examination and treatment.

NGUYEN CUONG - NGOC OAI - XUAN QUYNH - PHUONG DONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/mien-trung-nguoi-benh-vat-va-vi-thieu-thuoc-vat-tu-y-te-post755139.html