Driving force for growth of traditional medicine products

With more than 425 booths, VIETRAMED EXPO 2024 promises to be one of the largest and most prestigious events in the field of traditional medicine in Vietnam.

Driving force for growth of traditional medicine products

With more than 425 booths, VIETRAMED EXPO 2024 promises to be one of the largest and most prestigious events in the field of traditional medicine in Vietnam.

Organized by the Department of Traditional Medicine Management, Ministry of Health and Vietnam Exhibition Fair and Advertising Joint Stock Company - VIETFAIR, this event promises to be an important bridge for enterprises, production and trading establishments of medicinal herbs, traditional medicines, as well as traditional medicine hospitals at home and abroad to meet, exchange experiences and seek cooperation opportunities.

Mr. Tran Minh Ngoc speaks at the press meeting. Photo: Tuan Dung

This event brings together more than 300 domestic and foreign units and enterprises, displaying a variety of products from medicinal herbs, medical equipment, production technology and health care services.

With more than 425 booths, VIETRAMED EXPO 2024 promises to be one of the largest and most prestigious events in the field of traditional medicine in Vietnam.

At the press conference on the afternoon of November 6 to announce the plan to organize the Fair, according to Mr. Tran Minh Ngoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Traditional Medicine Management, the cultivation of medicinal herbs has made significant progress, however, the connection between stages in the value chain is still limited.

This fair is an important bridge to help production units find consumption partners, thereby creating a sustainable value chain for the Pharmaceutical industry.

According to the Organizing Committee, medicinal herbs are at risk of being counterfeited, so the issue of medicinal herbs quality and safety is also a top priority and is also one of the contents of this year's Fair, aiming to provide knowledge to help consumers distinguish between real and fake medicinal herbs and traditional medicines.

During the Fair, there will be many in-depth seminars with the participation of most large domestic and foreign enterprises, traditional medicine and medicinal product production facilities as well as experts such as the Seminar "Application of traditional medicine achievements in treatment and health care"; Seminar "Development of Vietnamese medicinal herbs in the 4.0 period".

In addition, the Fair also has the following main outstanding activities: Conference on connecting trade to develop medicinal herb growing areas, medicinal herb products in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, B2B trade activities, introducing new technologies and products of industry associations and businesses; providing knowledge and ways to distinguish between medicinal herbs and traditional medicines;

Introducing regional, local medicinal products; exchange and consultation programs on legal policies, support mechanisms and policies for start-up establishments and individuals as well as small and medium enterprises; experiencing medicinal products displayed at the fair; introducing, promoting, consulting, free medical examination and knowledge about medicinal herbs, traditional medicine, etc.

In particular, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac, the Organizing Committee dedicated a common booth to introduce to international friends and people the contributions of the great physician to Vietnamese traditional medicine.

VIETRAMED EXPO 2024 is expected to contribute to promoting the development of the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry, bringing Vietnamese products closer to consumers and affirming the position of traditional medicine in community health care.

Also at the press conference, answering reporters' questions about the quality of Vietnamese medicines, according to Mr. Nguyen The Thinh, Director of the Department of Traditional Medicine Management, in addition to advertising traditional medicine, there is also a situation of impersonating famous physicians to advertise widely on Youtube, even publicly disclosing their phone numbers, causing many people to believe and buy these oriental medicines to treat their illnesses.

The Department has received many feedbacks and has sent official dispatches to the Department of Health of provinces and cities, and even to the police for coordination in handling.

However, when investigating, most of the posted phone numbers were not available, and the addresses were also incorrect. Dealing with the problem of impersonating traditional medicine practitioners is very complicated, requiring the coordination of many agencies and departments.

According to Director Nguyen The Thinh, the most important measure at this time is to increase propaganda to raise people's awareness of being vigilant against scammers, and not to listen to and believe in advertisements that exaggerate the effects of traditional medicine and oriental medicine by "quacks".

Mr. Thinh also added that Vietnam has a large source of medicinal herbs with about 5,000 species of precious plants that are useful in health care and protection.

The country has formed large medicinal herb growing areas, with valuable medicinal plants such as Ngoc Linh ginseng, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom... being consumed strongly. Medicinal herbs are not the same as modern medicines, some of which cannot be replaced, so Vietnam still has to import many types from foreign countries, especially from China and India.

According to Mr. Thinh, to bring safe quality medicinal herbs to the market, it is necessary to strictly control their origin and source.

Faced with the situation of embalming and spraying preservatives on medicinal herbs and oriental medicines sold on the market, causing many users to suffer from liver and kidney failure and have to be hospitalized, which is causing outrage in society, Mr. Nguyen The Thinh affirmed that businesses granted GDP (Good Distribution Practice) certificates and official hospitals never spray, embalm, or use preservatives in medicinal herbs and oriental medicines.

Only unofficial products, or some "quarantines" can use preservatives, patients buy them and use them, causing unfortunate illnesses.

The Ministry of Health has issued a circular regulating the conditions for preliminary processing and preparation of medicinal herbs; the Department of Traditional Medicine Management regularly sends documents to local Departments of Health requesting to strengthen inspections of clinics and traditional medicine establishments; when detecting cases of medicinal herbs and oriental medicines of unknown origin, there will be sanctions to strictly punish them in order to control this situation.

With the aim of promoting the development of the Vietnamese medicinal herbs and traditional medicine industry, the second National Fair of Medicinal Herbs, Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Herb Products in 2024 (VIETRAMED EXPO 2024) will take place from November 21 to 23 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC).

Source: https://baodautu.vn/dong-luc-thuc-day-tang-truong-cac-san-pham-thuoc-y-hoc-co-truyen-d229351.html