National online conference on strengthening inspection of compliance with legal regulations on pharmaceuticals and food safety

Attending the conference at the provincial bridge point were comrade Nguyen The Phong - Deputy Director of the Department of Health and representatives of leaders of a number of departments and branches.

In recent times, the Ministry of Health has coordinated to implement many activities in the fight against counterfeit and poor-quality drugs; developed implementation plans; conducted periodic inspections of over 30% of drug production and trading establishments. In 2024, the Department of Drug Administration and the Department of Traditional Medicine Administration (Ministry of Health) deployed 80 inspection teams for good drug manufacturing practices, temporarily suspending the operation of part of one establishment. The Ministry of Health Inspectorate also conducted 50 inspection teams in the fields of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, medicinal herbs, and traditional medicine ingredients, issuing 46 decisions on administrative sanctions with a total fine of over 2.5 billion VND.

Conference scene at the Ministry of Health bridge point.

The Central Drug Testing Institutes and 62 drug testing centers at the provincial and municipal levels have collected samples to monitor drug quality, and tested and determined the drug quality of nearly 40,000 drug samples produced, imported, and circulated on the market. As a result, many drug samples were found to be substandard. In 2024 alone, the testing system collected over 43,000 drug samples, and discovered 228 drug samples that did not meet quality standards, 23 samples suspected of being fake medicinal herbs... However, violations related to the production and trade of fake drugs have not been thoroughly handled, and there are still incidents.

The production and sale of fake milk and fake functional foods has also been on the rise recently. Some cases have been discovered in large quantities. The products are sophisticatedly manufactured and difficult to detect, and are counterfeit, focusing on health-protecting functional foods, dairy products, spice powders, and cooking oils.

At the Conference, delegates focused on clarifying the current situation, causes, and difficulties in the process of implementing tasks such as: sanctions for violations are sometimes too light and not enough to deter; regulations on advertising functional foods are unclear; a part of the population often has the habit of buying medicine themselves, without requiring the place of sale to provide documents proving the origin of the medicine; small-scale counterfeit medicine production facilities in remote areas are difficult to detect; the level of drug testing between centers is not the same...

Conference scene at Lai Chau province bridge.

Speaking at the Conference, Mr. Do Xuan Tuyen - Deputy Minister of Health hoped that relevant ministries, provinces, cities, and units under the Ministry of Health would closely follow the Prime Minister's directives to perform all assigned tasks well. Continue to promote the role, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of management work and promote information and propaganda of legal regulations on ensuring food safety. Thereby, raising consumer awareness in choosing, purchasing and using pharmaceutical products and functional foods. Mobilizing businesses to strictly comply with legal regulations on the production and trading of pharmaceuticals and functional foods. In particular, strengthening inspection, examination, and strict handling of violations, in the spirit of "Taking people as the center" and protecting people's health and protecting consumer rights.

Source: https://baolaichau.vn/xa-hoi/hoi-nghi-truc-tuyen-toan-quoc-ve-tang-cuong-kiem-tra-viec-chap-hanh-cac-quy-dinh-phap-luat-ve-duoc-an-toan-thuc-pham-888378