Japan took 3 months, Vietnam took 2-4 years to update its list of medicines.

Người Đưa Tin•31/10/2023

"The inability to supply the medicine is our fault."

During the socio -economic discussion on the afternoon of October 31st, regarding the healthcare sector, National Assembly delegate Pham Khanh Phong Lan (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) stated that although healthcare issues were included in the Government's report, they were still superficial. This was especially true for issues already addressed in previous sessions.

Accordingly, Representative Phong Lan proposed that the Government supplement and update information on how the supply of medicines and medical supplies has been resolved, and update the list of medicines covered by health insurance.

According to delegates from Ho Chi Minh City, in addition to the fact that medicines and medical supplies have not been adequately supplied to the people at certain times, the updating of Vietnam's drug list to ensure that patients can promptly access the latest advancements in human medicine is still very slow compared to other countries.

"In Japan, it only takes about 3 months, in France 15 months, and in South Korea 18 months. But in Vietnam, it takes an average of 2-4 years for a new drug to be updated in the list of drugs covered by health insurance. This deprives people of their rights," Ms. Phong Lan said.

Dialogue - Japan took 3 months, Vietnam took 2-4 years to update its list of medicines. — National Assembly Deputy Pham Khanh Phong Lan.

The delegation from Ho Chi Minh City also mentioned the situation where patients have to buy medicine themselves, and questioned the responsibility of the health insurance system in this matter. Ms. Phong Lan affirmed: "This is a right of the people, and if we cannot provide it, it is our fault."

Delegates proposed supplementing the national reserve policy for certain rare medicines to address specific diseases and special cases. In particular, they suggested addressing the risk of vaccine shortages for expanded immunization programs in many localities.

At the same time, it is necessary to supplement and clarify the differences in the compensation policies for healthcare workers, in order to best demonstrate concern for the healthcare sector, which means concern for social welfare, health, rights, and the lives of patients.

Representative Pham Khanh Phong Lan suggested that the Government supplement the report, build upon the achievements, and address the root causes of the problems: “Currently, it can be seen that difficulties stem not only from objective factors such as lack of funding and human resources, but sometimes also from overly complex and conflicting regulations and procedures that are slow to be amended. This requires not only the efforts of the health sector but also the attention of the Government and coordinated direction so that all sectors can work together.”

According to National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Thi Ngoc Xuan (Binh Duong delegation), voters have requested the Government to continue directing efforts to overcome the shortage of medicines and medical supplies.

Therefore, Representative Xuan suggested that there should be a mechanism to reimburse people for the costs they have to cover when they have to buy medicines and medical supplies themselves, provided that those items are on the list of items covered by health insurance. The shortage of medicines and medical supplies is not the fault of the people, but of the state agencies. Therefore, the people need a mechanism to protect their legitimate rights.

Recruiting personnel in the healthcare sector.

Speaking in the assembly hall, National Assembly Deputy Tran Khanh Thu (Thai Binh delegation) highly appreciated the efforts of the Government and the Prime Minister in managing the economy, achieving basically the overall goals set and many important results in various fields.

For the whole year of 2023, it is estimated that 10 out of 15 targets will be met or exceeded, and 2 out of 4 targets in the health sector assigned under Resolution 16 have been basically implemented exceeding the plan, including the target for the number of doctors; from 11.1 doctors per 10,000 people in 2022 to an estimated 12 doctors per 10,000 people in 2023.

While acknowledging this as a positive outcome, delegates also expressed concerns that achieving the targets sustainably would not be easy.

Dialogue - Japan took 3 months, Vietnam took 2-4 years to update the list of medicines (Figure 2). — National Assembly Deputy Tran Khanh Thu.

Emphasizing that healthcare personnel always play a crucial role in determining the success or failure of public health care, delegate Tran Khanh Thu argued that expanding training programs, especially in health-related fields, is necessary because it will provide a large number of personnel to serve in the healthcare sector.

However, if we are not strict from the assessment, licensing, and supervision stages, the quality of the output will vary in terms of doctors' competence, and this will be unfair to the health of the people.

Therefore, delegate Tran Khanh Thu suggested that it is necessary to continue improving mechanisms and policies, especially capital structure, and accordingly, appropriate capital and investment structures must be considered for social welfare, culture, health, and education sectors, with appropriate and adequate allocations for these areas.

Stating that the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended) stipulates that the examination and evaluation of medical practice capacity for granting licenses in accordance with international practices is organized by the National Medical Council, Representative Tran Khanh Thu proposed that the National Assembly and the Government allocate sufficient resources for the Council to promptly implement activities as prescribed by law to ensure transparency and objectivity when the official assessment of medical staff capacity is carried out.

At the same time, we propose that the Government develop policies to support students studying to become medical doctors; there should be a policy to allocate budget to eligible hospitals as clinical practice facilities in the form of commissioning and assigning practical training tasks to doctors after they graduate from university .

Source