Bidding for drugs and medical supplies must be clearly regulated.

SGGPO 05/24/2023 12:52

On the morning of May 24, the National Assembly discussed in the hall a number of contents with different opinions of the draft Law on Bidding (amended).

The Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly delegation attended a meeting at Dien Hong Hall on the morning of May 24. Photo: QUANG PHUC

Discussing this law, opinions were much concerned with the issue of purchasing drugs and medical supplies. As a person working in the health sector, Deputy Tran Thi Nhi Ha (Hanoi) said that in recent times, the main violations in bidding procurement were from the bid package price. The bid package price is a particularly important content in developing a contractor selection plan, and currently there are many shortcomings in determining the bid package price.

One of the methods for determining the package price is the method of using 3 quotations. Because the method of taking 3 quotations that many units are currently using does not ensure that the price of goods is the market price within a certain period of time and space, and is not a successful, legal, public and competitive transaction price, it cannot be used as a basis for determining the package price. However, in the draft Law on Bidding (amended), there is no guidance on determining the package price. The delegate proposed to stipulate the principle of determining the package price right in the draft Law on Bidding (amended), creating a legal basis for the Government to specifically and detailedly regulate this content.

The issue of bidding for drugs and medical supplies must be clearly regulated. Photo 1

Deputy Tran Thi Nhi Ha (Hanoi). Photo: QUANG PHUC

The delegate also requested clarification of the regulations on bidding. The draft stipulates the designation of bidding packages for epidemic prevention and control to avoid harming people's lives and health. This provision is very necessary in practice, but the concept of "bidding packages that need to be implemented immediately" can lead to the risk of arbitrarily applying the form of bidding. The phrase "need to be implemented immediately" stipulated in the 2013 Bidding Law has caused confusion in application, especially in the context of the epidemic.

Some units applying the form of bidding with the reason of "need to implement immediately to avoid harming the lives and health of the people" have been identified as violating the selection of bidding form. Therefore, the Delegate believes that the concept of when "need to implement immediately" must be specified in the law. In addition, the Delegate suggests supplementing the supplier's policy and clearly regulating the contractor's transfer of the right to use medical equipment without collecting money to medical examination and treatment facilities.

Bidding for drugs and medical supplies must be clearly regulated, photo 2

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi) speaks in the debate. Photo: QUANG PHUC

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi) debated opinions on centralized procurement bidding. In response to the opinions of some delegates proposing to remove the regulation "in case of purchasing rare drugs, drugs that need to be purchased in small quantities, centralized procurement can be applied", Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri raised the question again, if this regulation is removed, where will the medicine be found to treat patients, especially for rare diseases, patients living far away... The delegate shared that with many years of experience in the industry, he understood this when there is a shortage of medicine to treat patients due to too few biddings, many suppliers do not sell. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has a centralized bidding unit to bid for the whole country. Based on the above reality, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri proposed to keep this regulation in the law.

Deputy Pham Thi Kieu (Dak Nong) also said that the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that the capacity to respond to and access medical supplies, chemicals, biological products, vaccines, and equipment is still limited, partly due to the shortcomings in regulations on management and bidding for medical equipment. To remove these shortcomings, the Deputy suggested studying and adding to the draft law the content that "in an emergency situation, the organization assigned to purchase can advance goods to serve the right purpose and urgent requirements under the direction of competent authorities, then carry out the shortened bidding process according to regulations".

The issue of bidding for drugs and medical supplies must be clearly regulated, photo 3

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung. Photo: QUANG PHUC

Explaining the opinions, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that this was a major problem in the recent past, which the draft law has resolved. However, he said that this problem was mainly due to the implementation stage, or the inadequacies, overlaps, and contradictions in the regulations of the decree and circular. Recently, the Prime Minister has given very specific instructions to resolve it, in the direction of increasing the autonomy and self-responsibility of hospitals...

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