Deploying a peak period of prevention of fake drugs and fake functional foods

Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen chaired the conference - Photo: VGP/HM

Today (May 7), the Ministry of Health held a national online conference on strengthening inspection of compliance with legal regulations on pharmaceuticals and food safety.

The conference took place in the context of complicated developments in counterfeit goods, especially products directly related to people's health such as medicines, powdered milk and functional foods.

Chairing the conference, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen emphasized that this conference aims to deploy urgent solutions in the fight against the production and trade of fake drugs, cosmetics and health protection foods.

Accordingly, the Deputy Minister requested 63 provinces and cities to launch a peak period from now until the end of May 2025 in the fight against fake drugs and fake functional foods and report the results to the Ministry of Health before June 10.

The Deputy Minister also requested localities and competent agencies to increase surprise post-inspections to detect violations and strictly handle them. After synthesizing reports from localities, the Ministry will report to the Government before June 15.

Online conference connecting with 63 provinces and cities - Photo: VGP/HM

Authorities coordinate to crack down on violations

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference, Dr. Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Drug Administration, said, One of the reasons why illegally produced drugs can still circulate on the market is because the sanctions for violations are not deterrent enough.

For example, the value of a box of counterfeit medicine discovered may be only a few hundred thousand dong, while the administrative penalty according to current regulations is only from one to several million dong.

Therefore, in addition to increasing sanctions against violating establishments, there needs to be strong determination and close coordination among law enforcement agencies to track down, trace and destroy production sites. This is very important.

A typical case is the case in Thanh Hoa, based on the report on counterfeit drugs from the Thanh Hoa Provincial Department of Health sent to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry directed the Thanh Hoa Department of Health to coordinate with the Market Management Department and local authorities to promptly transfer the files of cases with signs of criminality to the police for investigation.

Thanh Hoa Provincial Police Department has established a special project to combat and destroy a ring producing and trading counterfeit medicines and disease prevention drugs as reported recently.

According to Dr. Ta Manh Hung, the Ministry of Health is urgently developing a plan and synchronously implementing solutions to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the fight against counterfeit drugs, poor quality drugs and drugs of unknown origin.

These solutions include: reviewing legal regulations in the direction of strengthening sanctions to ensure deterrence; building a database of drugs with circulation registration certificates, connecting pharmaceutical businesses to retrieve information on the origin and source of drugs; promoting communication to raise people's awareness in choosing to buy drugs at legal pharmaceutical businesses; strengthening coordination with relevant ministries and branches to handle cases of illegal drug trading and sales online...

Focus on inspecting and checking drug supply facilities

In the immediate future, the Ministry of Health will focus on strengthening management, inspection and examination of drug supply facilities, requiring facilities to have full invoices and documents proving the origin of drugs before importing and selling them to people.

Strengthen inspection and supervision of pharmaceutical production and trading establishments, especially on e-commerce channels and social networks.

Encourage businesses to apply traceability technology and anti-counterfeit stamps, such as QR codes, to manage goods, reduce loss and prevent counterfeit drugs.

At the same time, the Drug Administration also requires the nationwide testing system, including the Central Drug Testing Institutes and provincial and municipal testing centers, to increase drug sampling on the market, focusing on taking focused, key samples, both periodically and suddenly.

In addition, the Ministry of Health also requested the People's Committees of provinces and cities to increase funding for sampling and purchasing activities, as well as invest in facilities and train human resources for testing centers to improve the capacity to test and monitor drug quality locally.

Previously, on May 2, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed Official Dispatch No. 55/CD-TTg, requesting ministries, branches and localities to strengthen coordination and strictly handle organizations and individuals involved in the production and trade of fake medicines, fake milk and fake health protection foods. In particular, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Health to strengthen inspection of compliance with legal regulations on pharmaceuticals and food safety, while paying attention to strengthening state management of cosmetics, preventing violations from occurring.

Closely coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security in investigating and handling cases of production and trade of fake medicines, fake milk and fake health protection foods; at the same time, closely coordinate with ministries, branches and localities to urgently review problems and inadequacies in legal regulations to promptly amend and supplement according to authority or propose and recommend competent authorities to amend and supplement issues beyond authority.

Thuy Ha

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/trien-khai-dot-cao-diem-phong-chong-thuoc-gia-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-gia-102250507180549702.htm