National Assembly deputies propose early exemption of hospital fees for dialysis and cancer patients

VTV.vn - Many National Assembly delegates pointed out that the burden of treatment costs is still the biggest barrier for patients and proposed to soon exempt hospital fees for dialysis and cancer patients.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri ( Hanoi City Delegation)

Dialysis and cancer patients have huge costs, need to waive hospital fees soon

On the morning of December 2, 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 and the Investment Policy for the National Target Program on health care, population and development for the 2026-2035 period.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi Delegation) said that free hospital fees are a good condition to create a breakthrough in medical examination and treatment. Accordingly, free hospital fees need to have a reasonable roadmap, by 2030 we must move towards free hospital fees for all people.

Mr. Tri suggested that it is necessary to soon exempt hospital fees, especially for those being treated for cancer, incurable diseases, and chronic diseases.

"Patients on dialysis are having a hard time, cancer patients are being treated with very expensive drugs. We hope to help patients immediately, not wait until 2030," said a delegate from Hanoi.

View of the meeting

The delegates also said that it is necessary to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment with good medicine, standard diagnosis and treatment regimens, along with convenience. Basic medical examination and treatment must be arranged as close as possible to the people and there must be enough medicine to treat the people. All people, depending on the severity of their illness, will benefit equally.

Delegate Tri also emphasized the mobilization of social resources to participate in people's health care, especially investment in developing medical examination and treatment facilities and diagnostic centers, testing centers, imaging diagnostic 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 taking care of people's health. The private health system strives to provide about 30% of medical examination and treatment services for the whole country by 2030 and 45% by 2035," said Mr. Tri.

Update the drug list in time to reduce people's out-of-pocket expenses

Delegate Nguyen Tam Hung (Ho Chi Minh City Delegation) also agreed with the policy of exempting hospital fees according to the roadmap until 2030 and increasing the health insurance benefits for vulnerable groups. The delegate suggested that the Drafting Committee consider adding criteria to determine the groups of subjects that will receive increased benefits according to the level of health risks and high risk of diseases, instead of relying solely on social and administrative criteria.

"In reality, people at high risk of chronic diseases, genetic diseases, early metabolic disorders, etc. always need large and long-term treatment costs. Expanding the access standards in the direction of prioritizing health risks will guide policies in the right direction, ensure health equity and contribute to reducing the disease burden of society in the long term," said Mr. Hung.

Delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh (Lam Dong delegation)

Delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh (Lam Dong delegation) also raised voters' concerns that the burden of treatment costs remains the biggest barrier for patients.

"Many new generation drugs such as 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 many patients from accessing optimal treatment," said the delegate.

Statistics show that medicine costs always account for the highest proportion in the structure of medical examination and treatment costs, currently about 33% (down from 40-50% in previous years).

From there, Ms. Tu Anh recommended updating the drug list in a timely manner, especially with cancer treatment drugs and new generation immunomodulators, to reduce people's out-of-pocket expenses, ensuring benefits for more than 95.5 million people participating in health insurance today.

Source: https://vtv.vn/dbqh-de-xuat-som-mien-vien-phi-cho-benh-nhan-chay-than-ung-thu-100251202111433324.htm