On November 8 in Hanoi, the Department of Health Insurance ( Ministry of Health ) in collaboration with the Vietnam Medical Association organized a workshop to summarize 5 years of implementation and propose a policy on partially free drug support for patients according to the provisions of Circular 31/2018/TT-BYT with the participation of representatives of many oncology hospitals nationwide.
Many patients participate in the program to partially support medicine for treating serious illnesses at K Hospital.
Circular No. 31/2018/TT-BYT issued on October 30, 2018 by the Ministry of Health regulates the implementation of the free drug support program for medical examination and treatment facilities to treat patients. The Circular took effect from January 1, 2019. To date, after nearly 5 years of implementation, the Minister of Health has approved a total of 18 drug support programs. Since then, over 6,000 patients with serious illnesses have participated in the programs at many hospitals across the country with a total drug support value of 1,600 billion VND.
Drug support programs for patients include the Keytruda drug program for cancer patients (buy 1 cycle to support 1 cycle), drugs for small cell lung cancer patients (buy 1 cycle to support 1 cycle), drugs for multiple myeloma patients (pay 1 time to support 1 infusion)... However, up to now, there are only nearly 2,900 patients participating, many patients have asked to stop participating in the support program.
Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Tran Van Thuan, Deputy Minister of Health, said that, in addition to the positive aspects, Circular No. 31/2018/TT-BYT also revealed a number of problems and shortcomings that need to be adjusted and amended to suit the actual situation, such as regulations on the scope of application of partial drug support, regulations on documents and procedures for program approval, regulations on proposing changes to program content during the program implementation period... "Currently, the Ministry of Health is drafting amendments to Circular No. 31 to simplify administrative procedures and shorten the time for patients to access support drugs", the Deputy Minister of Health emphasized.
According to Circular No. 31/2018/TT-BYT, partial free drug support programs must be approved by the Ministry of Health before implementation. This makes management complicated, with many units participating. At the workshop, many units and hospitals pointed out difficulties and problems, and proposed solutions to bring the best benefits to patients.
The representative of the Cancer Patient Support Fund - Bright Tomorrow said that the current treatment costs of cancer drugs are still high compared to the economic conditions of patients in Vietnam. The treatment time is long, so many patients stop the drug support program because they do not have enough money to continue paying. Some patients are prescribed Keytruda (according to international treatment guidelines) but have not been approved by the Ministry of Health, so they are not allowed to participate in the program. "Therefore, it is necessary to speed up the approval of new indications and update internationally approved regimens. In the roadmap to include drugs in the list of health insurance drugs, simultaneously maintain the drug support program, simplify administrative procedures... so that patients can participate in the program", the representative of the Cancer Patient Support Fund - Bright Tomorrow proposed.
Conference scene
According to Dr. Diep Bao Tuan, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, the drug support program is highly humane, helping patients increase their access to treatment drugs, especially for drugs with high prices that have not been paid for by the Health Insurance Fund... However, the revised Circular should stipulate that the implemented programs have provisions to ensure the drug use rights of patients who have participated in the program until the end of treatment so that the program can more clearly demonstrate its humane meaning...
In addition, delegates also discussed decentralization for medical examination and treatment facilities to discuss and agree with pharmaceutical businesses and sign cooperation contracts for implementation without having to be approved by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health should only stipulate the basic content of the drug support program and guide the process and procedures for hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses to implement on their own...
Concluding the workshop, Ms. Tran Thi Trang, Director of the Department of Health Insurance, acknowledged the delegates' comments to amend Circular 31. "Over the past 5 years, the implementation of the drug support program for patients has revealed difficulties. Comments related to the scope of the program, approval, amendments, supplements, documents, interconnection with other procedures, etc. will be studied by us to soon complete the amended Circular. However, providing free support drugs to patients is important but not the only way to bring drugs to patients, nor is it a program to reduce drug prices but only one of the temporary factors when drug prices are high. We hope to synchronously implement many solutions such as reducing drug prices for patients, reducing out-of-pocket expenses for people", Ms. Trang emphasized.
QUYNH HOA
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