According to Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan, currently advertising related to drugs, functional foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics has been fully regulated by law. Using images of doctors and nurses of medical facilities for advertising is not allowed and violates regulations.
On the afternoon of November 11, continuing the 8th Session, the National Assembly conducted questions and answers on a group of issues in the health sector. National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man chaired the meeting.
Accordingly, National Assembly deputies will focus on questioning groups of issues: Mobilization and arrangement of medical forces, ensuring medicine and medical supplies for people and disease prevention and control after natural disasters; Issuance of licenses and practice certificates in the field of medical examination and treatment; Current status of management of functional foods, pharmaceutical cosmetics and solutions to handle violations; Prevention and control of harmful effects of tobacco and stimulants, especially in the school environment.
The person answering the questions was Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan. Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long, Ministers of Planning and Investment, Finance, Industry and Trade, Education and Training, Public Security, and National Defense also participated in answering questions and explaining related issues.
Licensing Management Solution
Participating in the questioning, delegate Khang Thi Mao - National Assembly Delegation of Yen Bai province asked the Minister of Health to inform whether the act of people wearing blue and white shirts claiming to be hospital doctors advertising functional foods is in accordance with regulations or not? If so, how will they be handled?
In response to this question, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that currently, advertising related to drugs, functional foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics has full legal provisions related to this content. The current Advertising Law, which is being revised as well as the regulations and guidelines for implementation, clearly stipulates that the use of images of doctors, nurses, and medical facilities for advertising is not allowed. The Penal Code also clearly stipulates the levels related to criminal handling if violating the law on advertising.
Therefore, the Minister affirmed that the use of these images is against the regulations. The Ministry of Health has sent a document to all Departments of Health as well as medical facilities nationwide to remind and request each officer and employee of the health sector not to participate in advertising that violates regulations.
Participating in the questioning, delegate Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy - National Assembly Delegation of Da Nang City said that recently, voters in the health sector have been very upset about the place where medical practice licenses are issued. Practitioners can apply for a practice license in any locality, leading to one person having many practice licenses and being in charge of technical expertise at many medical examination and treatment facilities in many different provinces and cities. The delegate requested the Minister of Health to have a management solution to ensure that each practitioner is only granted one practice license and is the name of one medical examination and treatment facility according to the provisions of the Law?
Responding to the question of delegate Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that implementing the provisions of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended), as well as Decree 96 related to the granting of practice licenses to practitioners, there are provisions that a practitioner has only one license. Currently, we are moving towards nationwide management of the use of practitioner licenses.
Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health previously had software to manage medical practitioners nationwide and up to now, 430,000 people have been managed out of a total of more than 600,000 practitioners nationwide. However, this system was built in 2015 on the basis of a closed system, so the updating, management and use in accordance with the spirit of Decree 96 and the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment in 2023, the Ministry of Health is adjusting the content to upgrade this software.
“Based on upgrading this software and connecting with the online public service system of localities, as well as the national online public service system and using national database systems, in the coming time, the Ministry of Health will also deploy solutions to have a unified system nationwide. At that time, leaders at all levels and local health care can refer to and grasp information about practitioners to manage in accordance with regulations,” said Minister Dao Hong Lan.
Removing difficulties in drug bidding
Raising the question, delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy - National Assembly Delegation of Bac Kan province said that according to the reflection of hospital pharmacies, there are still difficulties in bidding for drugs and in reality there are still times when people finish their medical examination but cannot buy drugs at the hospital pharmacy, affecting treatment. The delegate asked the Minister of Health to tell us where this problem comes from and when it will be resolved?
Responding to this content, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that in the past time, the National Assembly and the Government have had many policy solutions to solve the problem of drug shortage. Regarding the issue of hospital pharmacies, these are pharmacies managed by hospitals and organized to buy retail to sell to people when needed, without having to take money from the budget or health insurance. Previously, the procurement was entirely decided by the hospital, but the 2023 Bidding Law stipulates that hospital pharmacies must also organize bidding. This issue is currently facing difficulties, but the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy will overcome this content.
In an interview with the Minister of Health, answering the question of Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy - National Assembly Delegation of Bac Kan province about clarifying the causes and solutions to remove difficulties in drug bidding, there are still times when people have finished medical examination but cannot buy medicine at the hospital pharmacy, affecting treatment, Delegate To Van Tam said, the Minister answered that in the past we had many legal bottlenecks and recently the National Assembly and the Government have made efforts to remove those bottlenecks.
However, delegate To Van Tam said that the drug shortage as questioned by the delegate still exists. “So are there still some departments lacking a sense of responsibility in the bidding process of these medical facilities? If so, how has the Minister handled it?” delegate To Van Tam asked.
Regarding the debate of delegate To Van Tam, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that there are three levels of bidding for drug purchases: centralized procurement at the Ministry of Health; procurement at the provincial level and assigned to localities to direct implementation; and medical facilities.
The Minister stated that with the difficulties in the recent past, the National Assembly and the Government have resolved many issues and the Bidding Law has come into effect since January 1, 2024. However, this is the first year of implementing the new regulations. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has worked with localities and regularly organized online conferences to deploy instructions for implementing the Bidding Law in 63 provinces and cities. And the cause of the difficulties is that due to the new regulations, research, understanding and human resource arrangement for implementation are still difficult...
To solve this problem, in addition to training all localities to solve difficulties, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health is currently developing a handbook on drug bidding, which will be a very specific, step-by-step guide so that localities have enough capacity to implement it.
In addition, in practice, in some units, there are still cadres who do not dare to think, dare to do and are afraid of making mistakes, so the implementation process is still difficult and entangled. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has also issued Directive No. 24 stipulating the responsibility of the heads of all medical examination and treatment facilities to fully perform their responsibilities related to ensuring adequate medicine, equipment and medical supplies. This content has also been stipulated in the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended) and this is a mandatory responsibility. At the same time, the Ministry of Health will continue to support the heads in the implementation process and will continue to resolve any remaining problems.
Speaking at the question and answer session, delegate Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy - National Assembly Delegation of Tay Ninh province raised the issue that the delay in payment of health insurance costs to hospitals, despite many years of petitions, has not been completely resolved, causing difficulties for medical examination and treatment and even affecting drug bidding. The recent drug shortage due to financial difficulties, the Ministry of Health has issued instructions but in reality has not yet resolved the difficulties of many localities across the country. Therefore, hospitals are currently both in difficulty and in debt. Given the above reality, the delegate requested the Minister to commit to working with the Vietnam Social Security to resolve the above problem for hospitals, and if necessary, propose a specific mechanism to completely resolve the above situation.
In response to this question, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that recently, the Ministry of Health has coordinated with the Vietnam Social Security to resolve the outstanding debt of over VND 11,000 billion. Currently, the Vietnam Social Security is also coordinating with localities to allocate to medical facilities to resolve the outstanding debt issue. The Minister said that if this outstanding debt is returned to medical facilities and according to regulations, this is a huge resource for medical facilities to ensure the conditions for purchasing and bidding for drugs.
Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/bo-truong-dao-hong-lan-su-dung-hinh-anh-bac-si-y-si-de-quang-cao-la-sai-quy-dinh-382954.html
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