The Ministry of Health is studying and proposing the Government to promulgate a specific mechanism for the reserve of a number of rare drugs and drugs necessary for the treatment of rare diseases.
Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Lien Huong said the above at the Government's regular press conference on the afternoon of October 1. To remove difficulties related to drug bidding at hospitals, the Ministry of Health continues to guide units and localities to strengthen procurement and bidding capacity. The Ministry also promotes licensing for price management of drugs and medical equipment, especially for rare drugs.
The progress of bidding packages for drugs on the list of national-level centralized bidding and the list of drugs for price negotiation has also been accelerated. In addition, the Ministry of Health will perfect the institution on medical equipment management; encouraging domestic pharmaceutical enterprises to produce rare drugs to actively supply.
According to Ms. Huong, the health sector will apply information technology to connect drug production and import and export establishments, help monitor supply, promptly regulate import and trade of drugs, and ensure adequate treatment needs. treat. Hospitals are instructed to use drugs with the same active ingredients and equivalent effects to treat...
Three days ago, the Government sent a report to the National Assembly, including a proposal to allow the extension of the validity period of the drug registration certificate. The reason is that Covid-19 is still unpredictable and the procedure for renewing the drug registration certificate according to current regulations is difficult. From 2023, more than 10,300 drugs have expired registration for circulation; 3,800 drugs (issued in 2018, valid for 5 years and issued in 2019 with validity for 3 years) will expire. Therefore, the number of applications for drug renewal in 2023 is very large (14,000 records), while the human resources for appraisal are seriously lacking; The renewal process takes a long time.
The extension of the validity of the drug registration certificate according to the Government will not affect the quality, safety and effectiveness of the drugs, because these drugs have been registered for circulation for many years in Vietnam and many other countries. Without timely renewal, many drugs are not circulated on the market, providing hospitals and people's needs, including many essential and rare drugs. In the long term, the Government believes that there should be an automatic renewal mechanism for drugs that have been licensed for circulation.
Recently, the shortage of drugs, equipment and medical supplies has occurred in many medical examination and treatment facilities, affecting people's health care. According to the Ministry of Health, 28/34 health departments and 12/21 central hospitals reported a shortage of drugs, including antibiotics, narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, some cardiovascular drugs, and antihypertensive treatment. medicine to treat dengue fever... 26/34 health departments and 15/21 central hospitals reported a lack of consumables and chemicals. 14/34 health departments and 8/21 central hospitals reported a lack of medical equipment.
On August 5, the Ministry of Health announced the contractor selection results of three national-level concentrated drug purchase packages with a total value of nearly 6,300 billion VND, which is expected to quench the "thirst" of therapeutic drugs.