This morning (May 23), the Ministry of Health held a national online conference to evaluate the peak period of the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods in the health sector.
Speaking at the conference, Dr. Ha Anh Duc - Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, Ministry of Health said: Regarding the hospital system, we also identified preventing counterfeit goods entering the hospital as a major problem, related to many product groups, from production to consumption.
"The products entering medical examination and treatment facilities are not only drugs but also consumer goods, functional foods... from hospital pharmacy stalls to canteens, which can pose a risk of poor quality goods being imported. Recently, the police have also discovered fake practice certificates..." - Mr. Duc said.
According to Mr. Duc, for medical facilities, there are currently prescription regulations, requiring medical facilities to comply with prescription regulations, and not allowed to prescribe functional foods. If medical staff prescribe functional foods, it is against regulations.
For products put into hospitals, medical facilities must be responsible for management. When bidding, the hospital and the canteen must be responsible for the origin of the product, where to import it, what is the quality of the product... because the canteen is a hospital for bidding. Therefore, hospital directors still have to take responsibility.
For the Departments of Health of provinces and cities, up to 70% of administrative procedures have been decentralized... Therefore, it is extremely necessary to promote inspection, examination, and coordination with competent authorities.
"Regarding solutions, we propose that the Ministry's leaders build a database of medical practitioners nationwide, regardless of administrative boundaries. All practitioners will be managed the same as the current personal identification. What profession is practiced, to what extent, during what period of time, were there any violations or not?... All that information will be put on the national data portal for management, regardless of public or private health care" - Dr. Ha Anh Duc said.
Regarding drug management, we are also developing a Circular related to electronic prescriptions, coordinating with the Department of Drug Administration, controlling the identification of doctors allowed to prescribe, how doctors prescribe, what drugs are prescribed, which drug sellers... will all be managed. We are also coordinating with the Drug Administration of Vietnam to have a national database on pharmaceuticals, data on drug stores nationwide...
"At the same time, we will continue to step up inspection and examination of the current management of pharmaceutical practice" - Dr. Duc emphasized.
