Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (National Assembly Delegation of Hanoi City) spoke at the hall.

Speaking at the discussion session, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (National Assembly Delegation of Hanoi) basically agreed with the report of the National Assembly Standing Committee. Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri highly appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Health and the Minister of Health himself in resolving hot and difficult issues for voters and people.

The delegates reflected that population officers in general, especially grassroots population officers, have suffered many disadvantages, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Health has now issued Official Letter No. 5492 on transferring ranks and reassigning tasks of population officers. This is a relatively timely action. The delegates requested the Ministry of Health to inspect and urge the Departments of Health to strictly implement this Official Letter.

Regarding the issue of local shortage of drugs and medical supplies at medical facilities and public hospitals in some provinces and cities, the delegate emphasized that this phenomenon has been mentioned many times in reports and has been discussed and questioned many times at the Session. The Ministry of Health has tried its best to resolve it with necessary legal documents to promote the purchase of medical equipment for medical examination and treatment. The delegate requested that provinces and localities urge, inspect and organize the purchase of sufficient and correct equipment to ensure good conditions for health care, medical examination and treatment for the people.

Regarding the issue of health insurance, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri stated that voters have many opinions about going to the doctor, patients having to ask for a hospital transfer letter is "very troublesome, very time-consuming, very tiring". Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri said that information technology has now advanced and the connection of test results, functional examinations, and diagnostic imaging has been quite smooth.

"Currently, more than 93% of Vietnam's population has health insurance, so the additional "barrier for requesting a hospital transfer certificate should be abolished," the Hanoi delegation suggested.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri also proposed to accelerate the process of connecting routes, more substantially, and in the next revision of the Law on Health Insurance, it is necessary to make it so that people with health insurance can seek medical examination and treatment anywhere they want, in accordance with their medical condition, quality of examination and treatment, travel time, care conditions, etc. According to the delegate, this must be considered the most important amendment in this revision.

Regarding the total payment or health insurance fund spending limit of medical examination and treatment facilities within a year, according to delegate Nguyen Anh Tri, it has been adjusted by Decree 75/2023 of the Government. This means that medical examination and treatment services under health insurance will be paid according to actual needs, which medical facilities provide which services, drugs, chemicals, and supplies will be paid for that.

According to delegate Nguyen Anh Tri, the issuance of this decree has put an end to the inconvenience in medical examination and treatment that has been lingering for many years. The delegate hopes to continue to monitor and promote the implementation of the decree's content in a practical manner, without any distortion.

Regarding adding drugs to the health insurance list, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri proposed that male diseases that have been included in the international disease classification by the World Health Organization must be covered by health insurance.

The delegate further recommended that when amending the upcoming Law on Health Insurance, attention should be paid to the list of drugs covered by health insurance because treatment with which drug and which regimen is based on the patient's condition, severity of the disease, experience, and world medical advances... to achieve the best results for the patient.
"The list of drugs and regimens should be left to the medical sector, medical facilities, and the Ministry of Health to decide on. Which drugs and regimens patients use, if they are correct and effective... then health insurance will pay accordingly. Please do not have a list of drugs covered by health insurance anymore," said delegate Nguyen Anh Tri.

Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong, National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan province, spoke at the discussion session.

Also speaking about the health issue, delegate Nguyen Huu Thong (National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan Province) stated that during the COVID-19 outbreak, with many cases continuously infected, it was difficult to make purchases according to regulations due to social distancing. Therefore, units that borrowed goods, medical supplies, and disinfectants from suppliers and private enterprises have not yet paid due to procedural problems.

Therefore, voters in the health sector recommend that the authorities provide guidance on debt repayment for units in purchasing and borrowing medical equipment and disinfectant chemicals to prevent and fight the COVID-19 pandemic. For Binh Thuan province alone, delegate Nguyen Huu Thong said that this debt is over 91 billion VND.

According to the delegate, the National Assembly has issued Resolution 99 on supervision, which has assigned the Government and the Ministry of Health to research solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles, but up to now, according to the Government's report, the Ministry of Health has not yet issued a document guiding the removal of these shortcomings.

"It can be said that local medical facilities are facing many difficulties and problems in paying debts. Creditors are waiting, debtors are waiting for instructions. We request that the Government and the Ministry of Health provide instructions soon," delegate Nguyen Huu Thong suggested.

Delegate Nguyen Lan Hieu (National Assembly Delegation of Binh Dinh Province) spoke in the debate.

Also speaking about the unpaid debts of hospitals and medical facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, delegate Nguyen Lan Hieu (National Assembly Delegation of Binh Dinh Province) affirmed that this is a prominent issue not only in Binh Thuan Province but also in the majority of provinces and cities where the pandemic broke out, not only supplies and medicines but also meals, laundry, oxygen, compressed air, etc.

Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong proposed that the Ministry of Health issue guidelines, but according to Delegate Lan Hieu, that alone is not enough. Delegate Nguyen Lan Hieu stated that the Government can only set out principles and direct localities to conduct their own reviews, but always include a sentence that says “to implement in accordance with the provisions of the law.” Thus, the delegate believes that everything will stand still.

Therefore, delegate Nguyen Lan Hieu suggested that the Ministry of Health should issue detailed guidance documents on some problems with specific items, or used to fight the epidemic, and that localities should strongly support the health sector through resolutions of the People's Council, and thoroughly resolve the problems that exist after the pandemic so that the health sector can continue to confidently carry out its task of taking care of people's health.

According to VNA