Officials have held discussions to find ways to revise the unclear laws on pharmacy pricing so as to reduce the price of medicines.
Pharmacy at Children’s Hospital 2 During a meeting on June 15, Dr Truong Quoc Cuong, Head of the Ministry of Health’s Drug Administration said that the laws do not adequately specify the ministry’s role in setting drug prices. The procedures in medicine sales is somewhat different from those of other countries, such as Thailand, where their Ministry of Health sets prices, while the task of monitoring pharmaceutical sales is left to the Ministry of Commerce.
Cuong proposed that the Ministry of Finance, in conjunction with related ministries and industry players, dictate pharmaceutical prices that are reasonable. This would involve the Ministry of Health reviewing and classifying different types of drugs, including those that are new to the market. It would then be the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry to monitor the sales of these drugs and prevent violations such as monopolisation.
Le Van Truyen, former deputy minister of Health said, “The revised laws should be clear and more specific about system of management and the responsibilities of involved institutions.”
Deputy general director of the Vietnam Social Insurance, Nguyen Minh Thao, said the new circular issued by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance has already shown positive results. Thao added that the circular has saved many hospitals up to 30% in drug costs.
“More research into the origin and benefits of drugs could prevent many substandard medications from entering into hospitals,” said Thao.
Truyen said, however, that just because drugs are cheap does not necessarily mean they are substandard.
In many cases, Truyen pointed out, the same product with similar quality is offered from Vietnamese and foreign producers, but we are unable to standardise the price of imported products. The price problem could be at least partly solved if there were more good-quality domestically produced drugs available, Truyen added.
Truyen said that there are 12 categories of substances which currently need to pass bioequivalence tests to be approved, but such tests are costly, which may discourage domestic producers.
Đăng ký: VietNam News