Cancer patients are being treated with very expensive drugs, very miserable, need immediate exemption of hospital fees

National Assembly delegates proposed to exempt hospital fees for cancer and serious illness patients immediately instead of waiting until 2030 as planned.

Hospital fees should be waived immediately for cancer patients and patients with serious illnesses.

On the morning of December 2, continuing the 10th Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly on a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the work of protecting, caring for and improving people's health; Investment policy for the National Target Program on health care, population and development for the period 2026 - 2035.

Contributing opinions to the National Assembly's Draft Resolution on a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the protection, care and improvement of people's health, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri ( Hanoi Delegation) said that the policy of exempting hospital fees is a good condition to create a breakthrough in medical examination and treatment (stipulated in Article 2).

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri proposed to exempt hospital fees for cancer and serious illness patients immediately instead of waiting until 2030 as planned. Photo: National Assembly Media

However, he said that it is necessary to re-edit Article 2 to clearly demonstrate this spirit, according to 4 contents:

First, it is necessary to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment with good medicine, standard and updated diagnosis and treatment regimens.

Second, it must be convenient and proactive to examine and treat patients at the nearest and most convenient place, to carry out real communication, not to be dependent, and to eliminate the medical payment ceiling.

Third, equality in benefits, in which the basic level must be located closest to the people, and there must be enough medicine to treat the people.

Fourth, it must be feasible and effective.

Emphasizing that exemption of hospital fees needs to have a reasonable roadmap, delegates recommended that it is necessary to exempt hospital fees early for people being treated for difficult-to-treat, chronic cancers, and dialysis patients because this is a group of people facing many difficulties.

"Cancer patients are being treated with very expensive drugs. We hope for immediate help, not waiting until 2030," he said.

Mr. Tri also mentioned the mobilization of social resources to participate in people's health care, especially investing in the development of medical examination and treatment facilities and diagnostic centers, testing centers, imaging centers and functional monitoring centers to provide high-quality health care services. It is necessary to create all conditions for the private health system to become an important driving force in protecting and caring for people's health.

"The private healthcare system strives to provide about 30% of medical examination and treatment services nationwide by 2030 and 45% by 2035," the delegate stated the goal.

Proposal to update drug list in time

Also contributing her opinion on this issue, delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh (Lam Dong Delegation) said that voters currently reflect that the burden of treatment costs is still the biggest obstacle for patients.

Delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh (Lam Dong Delegation). Photo: National Assembly Media

"Many new generation drugs, targeted therapy drugs, and immunotherapy drugs have proven to be highly effective in treatment, helping to prolong life and improve quality of life. However, high costs prevent patients from accessing optimal treatment," said the delegate.

Citing statistics showing that medicine costs always account for about 33% of the cost structure of medical examination and treatment, delegates said that this number is still very high, even though it has decreased by 40-50% compared to last year.

From there, delegate Tu Anh proposed to update the drug list in a timely manner, especially new generation cancer treatment drugs, regulatory drugs, and immune drugs to reduce people's out-of-pocket costs, ensuring benefits for more than 95.5 million people participating in health insurance today.

"I think priority should be given to drugs with strong clinical evidence and clearly proven effectiveness. The list needs to be updated flexibly and promptly according to international medical advances.

Along with that, the expansion of the list is associated with cost-effectiveness assessment, to ensure that the payment is both fundamental and sustainable. This is a direct and practical solution so that patients with serious illnesses and difficult family circumstances are not left behind in the treatment journey" - delegate Tu Anh said.

Source: https://laodong.vn/thoi-su/benh-nhan-ung-thu-dang-dieu-tri-voi-thuoc-rat-dat-rat-kho-can-mien-ngay-vien-phi-1618844.ldo