During the discussion session at the hall on socio-economics of the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan explained and clarified a number of issues raised by National Assembly deputies.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, like many countries around the world, our country's health sector has revealed many shortcomings and problems.

"It can be said that this is an extremely difficult period for the health sector with a backlog after nearly 3 years of focusing on fighting the epidemic. The problem of a serious shortage of medicine, equipment and supplies in many medical facilities; many medical staff from the central to local levels violate the law;

"The wave of resignations and transfers out of the public health sector; the policy mechanism still has many obstacles causing difficulties in the implementation process" - Minister Dao Hong Lan said.

The Minister of Health affirmed that in that context, the health sector has received close leadership and direction from the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly, and the Government; and close coordination from ministries, departments, and localities.

In particular, with the sharing and encouragement of National Assembly deputies, voters and people nationwide, the health sector has made great efforts, united to overcome difficulties, innovated working methods, and focused on solving immediate difficulties, problems and shortcomings of the sector as well as long-term orientation for sustainable development.

The health sector has focused on implementing the targets and objectives assigned by the Government and the National Assembly. Top priority is given to the work of building and perfecting institutions and strategies in the health sector to create a legal corridor to ensure medical examination and treatment to serve the people as well as to perform the function of state management in the health sector.

Focus on improving the quality of medical examination and treatment at all levels; Strengthen the prevention and control of infectious diseases; Focus on solving outstanding problems of the industry.

According to the Minister of Health: Regarding the issue related to the current situation of drug and medical supplies supply, the Minister said that the Ministry of Health has issued a quick report on the current situation and solutions for purchasing drugs and medical equipment at medical examination and treatment facilities.

Regarding overcoming the shortage of drugs and medical supplies, Minister Dao Hong Lan said: According to the WHO report, the shortage of drugs, medical equipment and supplies is a persistent challenge, this is not a new phenomenon.

Especially more serious during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting people's health care even in countries with developed healthcare systems such as the UK, France, Italy, and the United States.

In particular, drugs for the nervous system, cardiovascular system, anti-infective drugs, anti-cancer drugs, digestive drugs, diphtheria antitoxin, emergency vaccine for yellow fever, drugs - biological products from human blood plasma.

On 24 October 2023, the European Commission EC met and issued a statement on strengthening actions to address severe drug shortages and enhance security of supply.

According to the Minister of Health, it can be said that this happens due to many reasons, including the scarcity of raw materials and active ingredients in the world, the problem of price fluctuations on a global scale, the problem of inflation, energy crisis, the impact of military conflicts... which increase the input costs of pharmaceutical production.

Rising product costs, disrupted supply chains, and a lack of incentives for manufacturers to produce less profitable drugs.

In Vietnam, drug bidding is organized at all three levels: at the central level, national centralized bidding accounts for about 16.5-18% of the national drug quantity; at the local level and medical facilities carry out the procurement themselves. The shortage of drugs and medical supplies in public medical facilities has become more common after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regarding the causes, according to the Minister, in addition to the objective causes as mentioned above, there are also subjective causes such as: Due to the system of related legal documents being inadequate; the organization of the implementation of bidding and procurement is still entangled;

Coordination between units during the implementation process is not timely and effective; especially there is a fear of making mistakes among some individuals, units and localities.

Minister Dao Hong Lan said that recently, the Ministry of Health and other ministries have submitted to the National Assembly, the Government, and the Prime Minister many synchronous solutions to remove difficulties related to the procurement and bidding of drugs and medical supplies.

Regarding policy mechanisms, the Ministry of Health has submitted to the National Assembly for promulgation laws related to the Law on Bidding, the Law on Prices, the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, and Resolutions of the National Assembly, documents of the Government, the Prime Minister; documents of the Ministry of Health, Finance, and Planning and Investment to create a legal corridor.

Especially Resolutions 80 and 99 of the National Assembly; Resolution 30, Decree 07, Decree 75 of the Government; circulars of ministries and branches, especially Circular 14 of the Ministry of Health.

The 2023 Bidding Law, effective from January 1, 2024, will resolve and remove many problems related to ensuring supply and implementing the procurement of drugs and medical equipment. To date, medical facilities have implemented the regulations.

Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the Ministry of Health directed businesses to find sources of supply, especially for rare drugs.

Regarding ensuring the supply of drugs and medical equipment on the market, the Ministry of Health has focused on speeding up the progress of drug issuance, drug renewal, and drug and medical equipment circulation registration.

The total number of drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients still valid at present is over 22,000 drugs, over 100,000 types of medical equipment still valid.

The Ministry also directed businesses to find sources of supply, especially for rare drugs; to accelerate the reduction and simplification of administrative procedures; to comprehensively decentralize the approval of purchasing authority and contractor selection plans for medical units under the Ministry;

Speed ​​up the progress of drug procurement and national centralized bidding; increase information disclosure for bidding; review problems related to ensuring drugs and medical equipment to resolve them according to authority.

Up to now, the synchronous implementation of solutions has achieved initial positive results, although there are still local shortages at some local medical facilities.

According to the report of 1,076 medical facilities nationwide to the Ministry of Health in October 2023, 67.41% of units reported having sufficient supplies of drugs for medical examination and treatment activities. 38.59% of units reported having local shortages.

There are units that were previously facing many difficulties but have now implemented bidding to ensure basic medical examination and treatment (such as Bach Mai Hospital, which has implemented 35 bidding packages to purchase materials, chemicals, and machinery since the beginning of the year).

Regarding rare diseases, the Ministry has presented a mechanism to resolve the issue of ensuring supply for rare drugs, in particular, related to the issue of budgetary financial mechanisms to ensure implementation for rare drugs.