On September 12, at the Government Headquarters, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra and Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh co-chaired a meeting on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Children, the Law on People with Disabilities, the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, the Law on Pharmacy and the Law on Prevention and Control of Harms of Alcohol and Beer.
After listening to the opinions of ministries, sectors and the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Social Affairs, concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra emphasized the requirement to thoroughly grasp the direction of the Prime Minister, clearly define the viewpoints and principles in the management and development of the medical equipment system.
Regarding management according to product life cycles and the supply chain of medical equipment, the Deputy Prime Minister said that this is a necessary content. However, when including regulations, it is necessary to clearly explain the concept of "management according to product life cycles" to ensure a unified understanding and implementation.
The Deputy Prime Minister also noted that management according to the product life cycle and supply chain must be associated with the requirement to reduce intermediate levels. Regulations must also ensure compliance with international and regional treaties to which Vietnam is a member, and at the same time be consistent with domestic laws, and relevant regulations and standards.
Thoroughly grasping the spirit of the Prime Minister's conclusion, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that transparency in prices and medical equipment must be linked to the requirement for traceability. Management agencies must fully grasp information and data to implement publicity, transparency and improve management efficiency.
Regarding publicity and transparency in price listing, price declaration and medical equipment business activities, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out 3 major issues that need to be focused on solving: Cutting down intermediaries; ensuring transparency, including transparency of prices and medical equipment; ensuring data for management and development.
Regarding the procurement mechanism, the Deputy Prime Minister requested to pay attention to fundamental reform of the bidding and ordering mechanism; and at the same time promote centralized bidding and price negotiation.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, these are methods that many countries have effectively implemented. In Vietnam's conditions, many methods can be researched and flexibly applied, from centralized bidding, bidding at each medical facility to price negotiation with manufacturers and other appropriate methods.
Diversifying procurement methods will contribute to improving bidding efficiency, while reducing intermediaries in the supply chain. The Deputy Prime Minister assessed that the contents proposed by the Ministry of Health are well-founded, but requested to continue to improve and fully ensure the basic and core issues in the process of amending regulations on medical equipment.
