The Ministry of Health has just issued Circular 16/2026/TT-BYT regulating the program to support free medicine at medical examination and treatment facilities.
According to new regulations, the free drug support program is implemented on the basis of an agreement between a pharmaceutical business and a medical examination and treatment facility. The content of the agreement will specifically stipulate the beneficiaries of support as well as the prescription for drug use in each program.
Circular 16 encourages priority support for many vulnerable groups in society such as people with meritorious services to the revolution, poor households, near-poor households, ethnic minorities, the elderly, people with disabilities, children, students and social assistance recipients. Notably, workers in particularly difficult circumstances and patients with health insurance cards but still having to pay large amounts of treatment also belong to the group considered for support.
The Ministry of Health also emphasized that the free drug support program is implemented according to the actual support capacity of the pharmaceutical business and is not an obligation to fully provide all treatment drugs for patients. Support depends on each specific program and the resources of the participating unit.
To ensure transparency, medical examination and treatment facilities participating in the program must publicize information on the unit's electronic information page or list it directly at the facility for people to easily access. Patients can learn about participation conditions, supported drugs as well as the scope of application right at the medical examination and treatment place.
The Circular also clearly stipulates that drug support must be completely free, and must not be accompanied by any commercial conditions affecting the rights of patients. At the same time, the program must not affect the professional decisions of doctors in choosing safe, reasonable and effective treatment methods or prescribing drug use.
Another noteworthy point is that the health insurance fund will not pay for the amount of medicine that has been supported free of charge for patients with health insurance cards. This regulation aims to avoid overlapping payments for the portion of medicine that has been sponsored in the support program.
