Lam Dong lacks medicine, patients have to fend for themselves

Patients in Lam Dong face difficulties as many medical supplies have run out - Photo: MV

On May 21, the Lam Dong Provincial Department of Health reported and proposed to the Ministry of Health a plan to overcome the shortage of medicine and medical supplies and equipment, forcing patients to buy medicine outside.

According to Lam Dong Department of Health, currently a number of drug supply packages of medical units in the area have expired or are nearly expired.

The drug and medicinal materials supply package under the local centralized bidding list for public health facilities in Lam Dong province in 2022-2023 expired in December 2023; the drug supply package of Lam Dong II Hospital expired in May 2024; the drug supply package of Di Linh District Medical Center expired in June 2024 and many other packages are in a similar situation.

Notably, in the past, some pharmaceutical products had no bidders after many biddings, such as: Azithromycin (package); Cefaclor (package/tablet); Human insulin mixed, 30/70 ratio mixture (injection pen); Fentanyl 0.1mg/2ml; Atropine (eye drops); Salbutamol (tablet) and many other drugs.

The above situation has led to patients having to buy medicine outside of medical examination and treatment facilities.

Therefore, Lam Dong Department of Health recommends that the Ministry of Health soon issue a circular guiding the selection of drug suppliers and issue a sample of the contractor selection dossier for drugs.

Regarding medical supplies, the Department recommends that the Ministry soon issue a document guiding the classification of medical equipment in terms of technical standards and quality, to ensure the quality of medical supplies used for patients at medical examination and treatment facilities, especially there should be specific instructions for medical supplies requiring high technical requirements.

At the same time, the Department proposed that the Ministry of Health and the Social Insurance agency have a mechanism to pay for the cost of drugs and medical supplies that patients must purchase themselves in case medical examination and treatment facilities do not have available drugs and medical supplies.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lam-dong-thieu-thuoc-benh-nhan-phai-tu-lo-20240521155827031.htm