The Ministry of Health has acknowledged that there is still a shortage of drugs and medical supplies in some hospitals. The Ministry requires hospitals to ensure that they have enough drugs and medical supplies covered by health insurance; otherwise, the head of the medical facility must take responsibility.
People line up to receive medical examination and treatment at Viet Duc Hospital - Photo: DUONG LIEU
Meanwhile, the shortage of medicine and medical supplies is still happening, causing misery for the people.
Chorus of waiting and waiting
Diagnosed with a herniated disc, Mr. B. (53 years old, Hanoi) was transferred from a lower level hospital to Viet Duc Friendship Hospital (Hanoi) for treatment. At the lower level hospital, Mr. B. underwent many tests and X-rays and was assured that he would be treated at a higher level hospital.
At Viet Duc Hospital, he continued to undergo a number of tests and X-rays. Mr. B. shared that because the hospital was very crowded, it took him two days to complete these procedures. The doctor scheduled a consultation two days later to come up with a treatment plan.
However, after the consultation, he needed to do another test and wait two more days for another consultation.
"After the second consultation, the doctor said that because there were no more nails and splints and lack of supplies, the surgery could not be performed yet. He instructed me to wait about a month for supplies or to transfer to the 108 Central Military Hospital for treatment," Mr. B. said, adding that he had requested to be transferred to the 108 Central Military Hospital for surgery.
Mr. B. shared that enduring pain for 1-2 more days is already "torture" for a patient, let alone having to endure pain for an entire month, not to mention whether there will be supplies available at that time as promised?
"I also understand that the final hospital is overloaded, maybe lacking supplies, not because the doctors are making things difficult. But this situation has been going on for a long time, patients keep moving from one hospital to another, and when they reach the final hospital, they still have to be transferred again, which is too much torture for the patients. Not to mention the time wasted waiting and then being transferred again," Mr. B. said in frustration.
Having a relative being treated at Viet Duc Hospital with a broken jaw, open arm fracture, and broken heel, Mr. M. shared that the hospital also instructed him to transfer to another hospital or go to a private hospital for surgery.
Mr. M. said that the hospital did not have bone fusion tools, and this situation has been going on for many years. "I don't understand what the hospital is doing to make patients suffer like this," Mr. M. indignantly shared.
Previously, Tuoi Tre newspaper also reported on the shortage of medicine and medical supplies at this hospital. There were even cases where patients had to postpone their surgery due to lack of supplies and then had to wait nearly half a year to... reschedule the surgery.
After half a year of waiting, the patient's life and work were interrupted. Or recently, the patient had to buy each IV needle, endotracheal tube... by himself due to the hospital's lack of supplies.
Chronic disease treatment drugs are also lacking.
Not only is there a shortage of medical supplies, there is also a shortage of some medicines for chronic patients. For chronic patients, the economic burden increases significantly as they have to take medicine every day. Medicines that should be covered by health insurance now have to be purchased out of pocket.
At the Central Endocrinology Hospital, branch 1 (Hanoi), some patients with adrenal insufficiency are worried because for many months they have not received health insurance-covered medicine for treatment.
Ms. TP (Hanoi) shared that before, every time she went to have her adrenal gland examined, the hospital gave her Valgesic - a special treatment for adrenal insufficiency, the price of this medicine is more than 4,000 VND/pill.
"Every month I am given about 90 pills, but since June, the treating doctor has said they are out of medicine and asked patients to buy them themselves. Why does the hospital run out of medicine for so long? Every month we ask the treating doctor but get no answer.
Patients have to spend a lot of money to buy medicine outside, while we are fully entitled to insurance benefits," Ms. P. was indignant.
Also being treated for adrenal insufficiency at the Central Endocrinology Hospital, Ms. NL (Hanoi) said that her doctor prescribed her three adrenal pills per day.
"However, for many months now I have not been given insurance-covered medicine, so I have to buy medicine from outside. French Hydrocortisone costs 9,400 VND/pill. When medicine is scarce, the price can increase to 10,000 VND/pill. I spend nearly a million VND a month on treatment that should have been covered by health insurance," Ms. NL shared.
"There is a local shortage of drugs"
Mr. Nguyen Tuong Son, Director of the Department of Planning and Finance (Ministry of Health), admitted that there is a local shortage of drugs and medical supplies in many public hospitals.
Mr. Son explained that the Law on Bidding, which will take effect from 2024, has many new points, but medical facilities have not fully understood them to apply them to procurement and bidding.
To address the shortage of drugs and medical supplies, the Ministry of Health will continue to disseminate, guide, and train hospitals on bidding. The Ministry of Health is developing a bidding manual, expected to be issued in early 2025 for units to apply.
Mr. Son added that in reality, there are still some hospitals that are hesitant, so the Ministry of Health has issued a document stipulating that the head of the hospital must take responsibility if there is a shortage of medicine or medical supplies.
"However, some hospitals are facing situations where there are no contractors participating in bidding, market prices fluctuate... leading to inability to make purchases," said Mr. Son.
* Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan:
Listen to opinions to solve fundamental problems
Viet Duc Hospital is often overloaded - Photo: D.LIEU
Responding to Tuoi Tre reporters, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan affirmed that the legal basis for ensuring the procurement and bidding of drugs and medical supplies basically meets the requirements.
"However, the problem of purchasing and bidding for drugs and medical supplies is a difficult problem that cannot be solved in a day or two.
Over the past two years, the Ministry of Health has coordinated with ministries and branches to advise the Government to revise and issue many decrees and circulars, which have removed many difficulties in procurement and bidding. Many hospitals have ensured basic medicines and medical supplies for the people," said Ms. Lan.
Regarding the shortage of drugs in hospitals, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health has not yet received any reports from any hospitals about serious shortages of drugs or medical supplies.
"Regarding the shortage of medicine at Viet Duc Hospital and the Central Endocrinology Hospital, we will ask the hospital directors to report soon, to clearly understand the cause of the shortage of medicine, and how to solve this problem.
Our goal is to listen to feedback to fundamentally solve the problem of drug shortages, helping people not have to go through difficulties when going to the doctor and not having enough medicine or supplies," said the Minister of Health.
Tough bidding
Patients treated at Viet Duc Hospital
Speaking with Tuoi Tre on December 23, the leader of Viet Duc Hospital said that currently there are no bidders for some bidding items, and the difficult bidding process has resulted in some types of medical supplies not being purchased.
In addition, this person also said that some surgical techniques have replaceable materials but patients do not choose them because they think they are not as good, so they complain that the hospital lacks materials. "There are many reasons leading to this situation and not only at Viet Duc Hospital, many other hospitals also lack materials," this person added.
Meanwhile, from July 2024, the leader of Viet Duc Hospital explained that the shortage of drugs and supplies was due to certain problems when conducting bidding according to the new circular, and bidding was not immediately possible.
The hospital is making efforts to bid, the bidding department has to work overtime on weekends to speed up the progress. In addition, the hospital is also making emergency purchases to have enough surgical supplies for patients.
It is expected that in the next 1-2 weeks, when the bidding packages are completed, things will stabilize. However, after 5 months, the shortage of materials is still happening.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nguoi-benh-van-kho-so-vi-thieu-thuoc-vat-tu-y-te-20241223233539579.htm
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