Outrage over fake drugs, fake milk, fake food: Part 2: Can fake drugs and fake milk "infiltrate" hospitals?

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Deputy Director of Health Department Nguyen Van Binh.

Deputy Director of the Department of Health NGUYEN VAN BINH said that immediately after receiving instructions from the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health , and the Provincial People's Committee regarding the review, fight, prevention, and strict handling of violations related to fake drugs, fake milk, and fake functional foods, the health sector immediately took action.

Up to now, after more than a month of checking, the authorities have not discovered any fake milk products or fake functional foods circulating in the province. At the same time, no fake drugs have been discovered circulating in hospitals, medical centers, or health stations.

Strict drug bidding process

Could you tell us about the current process of bidding for drugs and bringing drugs to medical facilities in Dong Nai ?

- From 2013 to present, the Department of Health has conducted centralized bidding to supply drugs to hospitals, medical centers, and health stations to serve patients. According to regulations, drugs paid for by the health insurance fund at both public and non-public medical examination and treatment facilities must go through bidding. For drugs not covered by the health insurance fund, the units must proactively purchase and comply with the Law on Bidding.

The drug bidding process is very strict. For drugs, there are groups such as: modern drugs, specialty drugs, traditional medicine, medicinal herbs, and vaccines. Each group of drugs has regulations and technical barriers. Drugs participating in the bidding must prove the origin of raw materials, must ensure very strict standards, and must have a drug circulation number issued by the Ministry of Health. For drugs produced domestically or imported from abroad, there must be a circulation license and registration number from the Ministry of Health.

Thus, counterfeit drugs have no "door" to "slip" through the bidding documents and participate in drug bidding.

What about hospital pharmacies, pharmacies and drugstores in the market, sir?

- Previously, the Department of Health also organized centralized procurement to supply drugs to pharmacies within the hospital premises. Later, with new regulations, heads of units were responsible for procurement through forms such as: bidding, designated bidding, open bidding, online purchasing, competitive bidding, etc. However, they still had to ensure compliance with strict criteria according to the provisions of the Bidding Law. Thus, counterfeit drugs could not "infiltrate" into the medical examination and treatment system of the health sector through this route.

Can doctors prescribe milk in prescriptions?

- According to the provisions of the Law on Pharmacy, milk and functional foods are prohibited from prescription. That is, doctors are not allowed to include functional foods and milk in prescriptions. Medical staff only have the function of advising patients and their families about milk in a scientific and honest manner, such as the name of the milk, manufacturer, main effects, reference price, and where to buy; the right to decide whether to buy or not is up to the patient.

Deputy Director of the Department of Health NGUYEN VAN BINH said: “Dong Nai has a large area, a large number of drug production and trading establishments, while the human resources are limited, so it is difficult for the management agency to conduct post-inspection of all establishments. When going for inspection, we must notify in advance, some establishments will prepare in advance, some establishments will close and not receive delegations.”

In the hospital nutrition department, units proactively purchase goods for business. Some units organize their own nutrition departments and bid for goods, but some also contract with outside units to organize and implement the nutrition department. The inspection results of the four interdisciplinary inspection teams of the province over the past month have not detected any fake milk products in the hospitals.

Medical staff prepare prescription drugs for patients at a medical facility in the province. Photo: Hanh Dung

Fake drugs and fake milk seriously affect users' health.

Sir, how does using fake medicine, fake milk, fake food harm the health of users?

- The harmful effects of counterfeit drugs are very scary. First of all, counterfeit drugs do not guarantee quality and therefore have no therapeutic effect. On the contrary, using counterfeit drugs can cause other complications of the original disease, leading to danger to the user's life.

Milk and functional foods have the effect of supplementing trace elements and nutrients necessary for users, especially sick people. However, functional foods and fake milk do not have enough nutrients and micronutrients necessary for users. In addition, these products also contain toxic substances such as lead, heavy metals, and other toxic substances. When these toxins are introduced into the body and absorbed through the blood, they will damage organs of the body, especially the liver and kidneys, causing direct damage to the stomach and intestines.

Notably, these fake foods target people with weak resistance such as: young children, infants, the elderly, the sick, pregnant women. These people need enough nutrients and trace elements to ensure their health. However, if they use fake milk, it will greatly affect their health, especially pregnant women, affecting both the mother and the child, possibly causing unforeseen fetal malformations and fetal malnutrition.

Food contaminated with chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms can not only cause acute poisoning (digestive disorders, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.), but also leave long-term and serious consequences, possibly leading to cancer, liver failure, kidney failure, and affecting the reproductive system, etc.

Is the habit of buying and selling drugs without a prescription aiding the trade in counterfeit drugs, sir?

- Vietnam in particular and the world in general are facing a very dangerous epidemic, which is antibiotic resistance. The biggest cause of this epidemic is the habit of buying and selling drugs "as easily as buying vegetables" of both buyers and sellers of drugs. Although the Ministry of Health has very specific regulations on buying and selling prescription drugs, connecting electronic prescription data to the national prescription system, in reality, many medical examination and treatment facilities, pharmacies, and drug stores have not implemented it well.

The investigation results of Thanh Hoa Provincial Police clearly showed that taking advantage of people's habit of self-prescribing medicines as well as their lack of knowledge when learning about the origin of goods, taking advantage of loopholes in state management of pharmaceutical business activities at pharmacies and drugstores, the subjects colluded with each other to produce and trade fake medicines.

What is the biggest problem currently in the management of drugs, milk and functional foods?

- Although inspection and post-inspection work has brought certain results, currently the authorities are not allowed to inspect too many businesses. When conducting inspections, to know if the product is a fake functional food or fake milk, it must be tested. To do so, there must be a laboratory with enough capacity to detect the substances in the ingredients of milk and functional foods to conclude whether it is fake or not. The cost of testing food samples is currently quite high.

In particular, the law has decentralized and delegated authority to businesses and establishments to self-declare product quality standards and at the same time take legal responsibility for the results of the declaration. For owners of establishments without ethics, conscience and responsibility, they will "cope" by taking the best samples for testing, and when mass production is carried out, they use substandard materials and the process is not strictly controlled. The consequence is that even though there is a certificate of conformity, the quality of the product when it reaches consumers is not guaranteed.

Thank you!

Hanh Dung (performed)

Lesson 3: Tighten management and strictly handle violations

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/202505/phan-no-voi-thuoc-gia-sua-gia-thuc-pham-gia-bai-2-thuoc-gia-sua-gia-co-lot-duoc-vao-cac-benh-vien-1681e0a/