Minister Dao Hong Lan responds to proposal for health insurance to cover people's self-medication

Bộ trưởng Bộ Y tế Đào Hồng Lan - Ảnh: GIA HÂN — Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan - Photo: GIA HAN

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan responded to the opinions of Cao Bang province voters sent after the 6th session of the 15th National Assembly.

The implementation of drug and medical supplies procurement still has many problems.

Accordingly, voters requested the Ministry of Health to consider issuing regulations that in case a patient has to buy medicine and medical supplies outside the hospital (medicines and medical supplies in the insurance list as prescribed by a doctor), the health insurance fund will pay for them.

This is to ensure legitimate rights for people who have health insurance cards but are not provided with medical examination and treatment due to lack of medicine and medical supplies at medical examination and treatment facilities.

Responding to this content, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the lists of drugs and medical supplies covered by the health insurance fund are issued by the Ministry of Health and regulated in circulars.

Thus, the list of drugs and medical supplies covered by the current health insurance fund has relatively fully and comprehensively met the need for drugs and medical supplies, in accordance with the payment capacity of the health insurance fund.

However, to have available medicines and medical supplies for use at medical examination and treatment facilities, it is necessary to comply with regulations on procurement and selection of drug suppliers in accordance with legal regulations on bidding.

Currently, there are many problems in the implementation of procurement, specifically, the bidding for the purchase of drugs and medical supplies at medical facilities is still difficult, and in some places, the progress is not on schedule as planned.

In addition, due to the impact of the epidemic, the supply of drugs and medical supplies has also been affected and interrupted to some extent, many manufacturers do not have enough raw materials to produce and distribute drugs and medical supplies.

This also leads to increased prices of drugs and medical supplies and makes procurement and bidding more difficult.

The list of drugs and medical supplies covered by health insurance will be expanded.

To overcome the above problem, according to Minister Dao Hong Lan, in 2023, the Ministry issued Circular 06/2023 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular 15/2019 regulating drug bidding at public health facilities; Circular 14/2023 regulating the order and procedures for developing bidding package prices for goods procurement and service provision in the field of medical equipment at public health facilities.

The Ministry is also coordinating with relevant ministries and branches to synchronously deploy solutions, such as reviewing and perfecting legal documents, focusing on reviewing and perfecting legal documents on procurement and bidding for drugs and medical supplies.

Particularly urgently make adjustments in procurement regulations in accordance with the provisions of the new Bidding Law; amend and supplement the list, paying special attention to expanding the list of drugs and medical supplies to meet treatment needs, ensuring the rights of health insurance participants; focus on accelerating the implementation of national centralized bidding and price negotiations, urging medical examination and treatment facilities and related units to ensure the procurement and supply of drugs for patients.

At the same time, research is also being done to develop regulations on payment mechanisms for the costs of medicines and medical supplies covered by health insurance that people must purchase outside to ensure the rights of health insurance participants.

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