Recently, at the press conference announcing the results of the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly (afternoon of November 30), reporters were interested in asking questions about the National Assembly's recent approval of the Pharmacy Law.
In particular, regarding regulations on online drug sales, there are currently some opinions that the health sector has deployed technology applications in remote health examinations, electronic health records, etc. Will the National Assembly consider allowing the sale of prescription drugs online in the near future for the convenience of the people? Will there be a situation of "if you can't manage it, then ban it"?
Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Mai - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Social Committee - said: "This is a new issue. During the discussion on this issue, there were many different opinions: Some opinions said that it is necessary to completely ban the sale of drugs online; others said that both non-prescription and prescription drugs should be allowed to be sold; others said that only non-prescription drugs should be allowed to be sold and prescription drugs should not be allowed to be sold online.
Finally, the National Assembly approved allowing the sale of non-prescription drugs online and the sale of prescription drugs only when there are outbreaks of group A infectious diseases.
Selling prescription drugs via e-commerce depends on management experience and guaranteed conditions because drugs are not like regular goods, but are a special type of goods related to people's health and lives.
According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Mai, currently, the health sector has implemented electronic medical records, electronic prescriptions, etc. However, the scale is still small and has not created uniformity nationwide. Currently, there is no complete national health database and electronic prescription and result connection are also difficult.
"When the conditions are complete, ensuring good control and management of online drug sales, the Government will review and submit for amendments on this issue," Mr. Nguyen Hoang Mai emphasized.
