Debt to buy COVID-19 testing reagents is nearly 1,000 billion

On the afternoon of May 23, while discussing in the hall the results of monitoring the settlement of voters' petitions sent to the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly, National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong (Binh Thuan Delegation) said that the National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan province has received applications from companies lending medical equipment, biological products, etc. to medical facilities in the prevention and fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, but so far they have not been paid or resolved.

Delegate Huu Thong hopes that the Ministry of Health will soon advise competent authorities to issue documents to resolve this issue and petition of the unit. In addition, the National Assembly Delegate of Binh Thuan also recommends that the Ministry of Health pay attention to the content of calculating interest for businesses from the time of borrowing goods and equipment until now and the financial mechanism for localities and medical facilities...

Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong - National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan province.

Explaining and clarifying the opinions of National Assembly deputies, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health has received and responded to all 200/200 petitions from voters. Regarding the issue raised by deputy Nguyen Huu Thong, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the law currently does not regulate the borrowing of drugs, biological products, supplies, and equipment for use in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, when the pandemic ended, some problems arose due to the lack of legal regulations.

“During the recent COVID-19 outbreak, due to urgent circumstances, some medical units and localities had to borrow, borrow, and make advances to serve the people's anti-epidemic work. Some units under the Ministry of Health themselves also had to do this. At this time, if we bid to pay in kind, the biological products and medical supplies for anti-epidemic work will be useless because the epidemic has ended. If we pay in cash, the question arises, at what level and from what source,” said the Commander of the health sector.

Minister Dao Hong Lan added that during the process of monitoring resources for COVID-19 prevention and control, Resolution 99 of the National Assembly also mentioned this content and assigned the Government to propose a solution.

Accordingly, implementing Resolution 99, the Government assigned the Ministry of Health to coordinate with ministries, branches and localities to have specific plans. Up to this point (May 2024), the Ministry of Health has worked with ministries, branches and localities to synthesize how much and in what quantity it has actually borrowed.

Minister Dao Hong Lan informed: "The Ministry has collected statistics from 7 ministries, branches and 48 localities with a total amount of 1,693 billion VND. Of which, 754 billion is related to borrowing medicine and medical equipment; 938 billion is related to purchasing biological products for COVID-19 testing."

The Minister of Health also emphasized that the Ministry is synthesizing and developing a Submission to the Government in May and June 2024.

LE HOANG (VOV.VN)

Link: https://vov.vn/chinh-tri/no-mua-sinh-pham-xet-nghiem-phong-dich-covid-19-gan-1000-ty-post1097129.vov

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/no-mua-sinh-pham-xet-nghiem-phong-dich-covid-19-gan-1-000-ty-ar872927.html