Medicine only responds basically
Right at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, in mid-2024, Dr. Duong Duc Hung, Director of the hospital, said: The hospital lacks some types of drugs because it cannot bid, patients buy them from outside while doctors have to reduce surgeries. These are irreplaceable drugs, very important in surgical treatment but currently cannot be purchased. The drugs in short supply are Albumin and Gamma Globulin (a type of plasma protein). The situation is similar at public hospitals, so it is also impossible to borrow. The reason is that the hospital called for bids for these drugs but no pharmaceutical company or distributor participated in the bidding.
Up to now, the shortage of medicine and medical supplies still exists but is not stressful. At the end of October 2024, patient L.T.S, 70 years old in Hai Phong, was indicated to have knee cartilage replaced at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital. However, the surgery could not be performed due to lack of cartilage. "The doctor said that the surgery would be performed when the supplies were available, but the time is unknown. Because of the long wait and not knowing when it would be, I returned to Hai Phong for surgery," Ms. S shared.
The Ministry of Health said that thanks to the removal of obstacles, the shortage of medicines, supplies and medical equipment has been basically resolved. The objective factor that accounts for the majority of the shortage is the disruption of supply.
In 2023, Can Tho City People's Committee approved the policy of assigning Can Tho Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital to conduct centralized drug bidding with an expanded drug list for all hospitals in the city in 2023 - 2025. After the implementation period, the city had the results of bidding for 10/10 drug packages (total winning bid value of about 2,606 billion VND) to serve treatment in 24 months (2023-2025).
Regarding medicines, up to now Can Tho has basically met the needs for examination and treatment at local hospitals.
In Dong Thap province, hospitals are currently providing basic medicine for people. However, some immunotherapy drugs (such as those used to treat severe cases of hand, foot and mouth disease) are facing difficulties in supply. Vaccines for infectious diseases in the immunization program are also in short supply, making it difficult to complete catch-up vaccinations.
As soon as the Ministry of Health issued a circular on insurance coverage for patients who have to buy medicine outside, the Department developed a pricing mechanism and submitted it to the People's Council for approval of a resolution to evaluate the steps.
"I am afraid that there will still be problems in cases where patients have health insurance but do not go to medical facilities, but are only given medicine indirectly from the station to their home for treatment, like in the case of mental patients" - Mr. Doan Tan Buu - Director of the Department of Health of Dong Thap province proposed.
Proposal with price database
Regarding the bidding situation for purchasing medical chemicals to reduce blood pressure, Can Tho City Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital has been resolved, continuing to take on the role of supplying blood for the city in particular and the Mekong Delta region in general.
Compared to a year ago, doctors say the situation has improved a lot. Most recently, in early October 2024, when Can Tho Central General Hospital provided emergency care and resuscitation to a pregnant woman in An Giang with critical postpartum hemorrhage, she was transfused with 52 units of blood and blood products (22 units of frozen plasma, 13 units of packed red blood cells, 10 units of platelets, and 7 units of apheresis platelets). The hospital said that this success was greatly supported by Can Tho City Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital in providing blood and blood products.
The Director of the Department of Health of Dong Thap province acknowledged that the newly effective Bidding Law has partly resolved some difficulties in the procurement and bidding of drugs, chemicals, medical equipment and supplies in the province, contributing to improving the quality of medical examination and treatment for people. However, up to now, the lack of a database on prices of goods imported into Vietnam makes the budget work susceptible to "original price slippage".
"We propose that the independent Inspection and Examination agency and the Provincial People's Committee propose that the Central Government and the Customs agency provide import prices of goods according to the list of purchased items with detailed configuration and features. Whoever imports them should announce the prices to make it easier to approve the budget," said Mr. Buu.
At Bach Mai Hospital, Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co - Director of the Hospital also said that in reality, there are still problems such as price management. There needs to be a policy on drug and medical supplies prices. The current bidding and purchasing process has the risk of buying at high prices. When purchasing based on quotes from businesses, or the winning bid price, there is still a risk that the price is not reasonable. Hospitals are very worried, so price management needs to have strict regulations so that hospitals can be confident in purchasing. Next, it is necessary to calculate correctly and fully the hospital fees to operate the public hospital effectively.
Mr. Hoang Cuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Finance (Ministry of Health) admitted: Through inspection and review, we found that there was a shortage of drugs and medical supplies in some hospitals due to the fact that in early 2024, hospitals applied the new Bidding Law, so the application was delayed. Some bidding packages had regulations that were not in accordance with the regulations on bidding packages, leading to bid cancellation.
