Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan spoke so at a national online conference on assessing the peak period of the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in the health sector organized by the Ministry of Health on the morning of May 23.
Ms. Lan also suggested that localities launch a mass movement to denounce crimes against counterfeit and smuggled goods. Authorities cannot do it 24/7, but people have it everywhere. How to form a culture against counterfeit goods.
In fact, the viewpoint, viewpoint and desire to form a culture of anti-counterfeiting as of the Minister of Health is not new but has been established for a long time, in all fields.
However, it shows the necessity and timeliness, in the context of a series of recent incidents showing that counterfeit goods, fake drugs, and floating functional foods are still trying to penetrate the regular health system.
The National Children's Hospital alone - the frontline unit treating children, is facing a real concern: the hospital spends thousands of billions of VND each year to buy drugs and medical products.
However, if the origin control step and input quality are not complete, just a loose link, the consequences will fall directly on the patient's head, including newborns.
And this is not just a story of drug quality, but a test of confidence in the entire health system. If fake drugs, fake milk, floating cosmetics can pass through control stages and enter hospitals - which are considered the last safety, then there is no guarantee that patients are being treated with the right treatment they need.
But the problem is that current inspections and checks are mainly campaign- oriented, often concentrated during peak periods and then cool down.
Meanwhile, counterfeiting technology is increasingly sophisticated, the goods distribution system is increasingly multi-layered, while the inspection force at the grassroots level is lacking both human resources and equipment.
If we fight against counterfeit goods but only react after the incident, or rely on inspection teams to come to the locality, we will always be behind, always lose and truly "not win or lose".
Therefore, the Minister of Health's call to build a culture against counterfeit goods, including the proactive role of people, doctors, and pharmacists, is a fundamental approach.
When society is conscious of detecting, denouncing, and rejecting counterfeit goods, poor quality production and distribution facilities will no longer have land to live on.
Of course, to do that, it is necessary to come with a mechanism to protect whistleblowers, publicize the list of violating products, and open traceability data for the community to look up...
Anti-counterfeiting cannot be just an inspector's task, and it is also impossible to contract it to a professional agency. It needs to become a cultural reflection of the entire political system and of each citizen, so that counterfeit products no longer have a way to live.
