On August 18, at the Government Headquarters, Politburo Member, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung chaired the thematic Government meeting on law-making in August 2026 to give opinions on draft laws and resolutions expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 2nd Session.
Notably, regarding the Law amending and supplementing a number of laws in the field of health, the Prime Minister requested to review regulations to cut intermediary costs for drugs and medical equipment to reach patients at the lowest cost.
This is a very promising requirement, because reality shows that medicines and medical equipment from manufacturers, importers to medical facilities also have different supply chains.
In many of these stages, there are mandatory and necessary stages such as transportation, preservation, inspection, and distribution to ensure quality and safety.
But if in that journey there are unnecessary levels, overlapping procedures or costs that can be reduced while still ensuring safety and quality, then it is necessary to boldly eliminate them.
Every unnecessary expense arising in the supply chain can be reflected in the price of medicines and medical equipment, thereby increasing the costs of patients.
This is even more meaningful when medical examination and treatment costs are still a burden for many families.
A person with chronic disease may have to take medication monthly, or even for life. A severely ill patient may have to use many types of medication, supplies, and medical equipment for a long time.
For them, each type of medicine reduced by a few thousand or tens of thousands of dong may not be a large number in one purchase. But combined for many months, many years will be a significant amount of money.
Therefore, cutting intermediary costs in the healthcare sector can also be seen as a direct way to contribute to reducing the financial burden on people.
However, "cutting down intermediaries" does not mean by all means eliminating distribution stages or just setting a goal to buy drugs and equipment at the lowest price.
Medicines and medical equipment are special commodities, directly related to human health, even life. Therefore, low prices must always go hand in hand with quality, safety and stable supply capacity.
If we only chase after low prices that businesses do not want to supply, hospitals have difficulty shopping, leading to a shortage of medicine and supplies, then in the end, the ones who suffer are still patients.
So what needs to be done is to review the entire route of drugs and medical equipment to accurately identify which expenses are really necessary, and which expenses arise due to procedures, distribution levels, or unreasonable regulations.
Along with that is increasing price transparency, promoting healthy competition, simplifying administrative procedures and applying technology in management, procurement, and bidding.
When the path of a pill and medical device is shorter, more transparent and has fewer unnecessary costs, the price reaches patients and has the opportunity to be reduced in a substantial and sustainable way.
