Ho Chi Minh City will provide enough medicine for grassroots healthcare in September 2024.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has compiled a list of drugs from medical centers. It is expected that by September 2024, the results of the contractor selection will be available to begin supplying drugs.

Problems are solved

In recent years, although local medical centers have seriously implemented drug bidding for medical stations, the drug supply bidding results of most district, county, and Thu Duc City medical centers are still limited. The drug list has not fully met the needs of medical examination and treatment at medical stations, and is not suitable for the actual expectations of the people and treating doctors.

The procurement of drugs for primary health care facilities is still facing some difficulties such as: The process of selecting drug suppliers is prolonged, and the number of items for which no contractor is selected is high.

The main reason is that many suppliers do not participate in the bidding when the quantity of drugs purchased by each medical center is small compared to the quantity of drugs supplied to upper-level treatment units. In addition, the human resources of the medical center conducting the bidding are both lacking in quantity and unprofessional.

In the coming time, Ho Chi Minh City will be more proactive in importing drugs for special treatment needs of medical facilities in the area.

To overcome this situation, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has identified "ensuring drug supply for grassroots health care as one of the key tasks of the health sector".

Currently, new regulations on drug bidding, including the provisions in Clause 5, Article 53 of the Law on Bidding, have resolved problems in retail purchasing at medical centers.

Accordingly, "for goods and services that are not on the list of centralized procurement but many agencies, organizations and units have a need to purchase the same type of goods and services, they can be combined into a bidding package for one of the agencies, organizations and units to purchase or for the unit with centralized procurement function to carry out the procurement".

Therefore, since the Law on Bidding took effect from January 1, 2024, the Department of Health has developed a general drug procurement plan for grassroots health facilities to increase the capacity to supply drugs for treatment needs, especially at local health stations.

Currently, the Department of Health has compiled a list of drugs from medical centers for the "Generic drug bidding package with more than 400 drug lists" and the "Medicinal drug bidding package, drugs combining pharmaceutical ingredients with medicinal herbs, traditional medicine with nearly 60 drug lists".

The Department of Health has also assigned Hung Vuong Hospital and Traditional Medicine Hospital, which are hospitals with guaranteed capacity and experience, to be the bidding parties for the above two packages and mobilized human resources of the health sector to participate in supporting the selection of contractors.

Currently, hospitals are urgently implementing and it is expected that by September 2024, Ho Chi Minh City will have the results of selecting contractors to start supplying drugs to medical centers and health stations.

Proactive in drug import

“In addition to efforts to supply drugs to grassroots health facilities, the Department of Health also pays special attention to the drug supply for the medical examination and treatment system in the area. To grasp the drug supply situation, the Department of Health has established a working group to support drug procurement and coordination. Every week, the working group will receive information on drug supply from medical facilities to provide timely support,” informed the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health.

For rare drugs, the Department of Health has regularly contacted the Ministry of Health to have many measures to support hospitals. In the past time, the Department of Health has reported to the Drug Administration and promptly imported to Vietnam a number of rare drugs to meet treatment needs such as: Globulin, diphtheria antitoxin serum, methotrexate... Some drugs have also completed licensing procedures and are continuing to be imported to Vietnam in the coming time.

Recently, the Government issued Decree No. 84/2024/ND-CP on piloting the decentralization of state management in a number of areas to the Ho Chi Minh City government. Accordingly, in the health sector, Ho Chi Minh City is decentralized to decide on the licensing of drug imports, meeting special treatment needs arising during the medical examination and treatment process for a number of drug groups as prescribed for medical examination and treatment facilities under its management.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, with this decentralization, Ho Chi Minh City will be more proactive in importing drugs for special treatment needs of medical facilities in the area, promptly responding to disease prevention requirements and other urgent needs, especially for rare drugs and specialized drugs.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/tphcm-se-cung-ung-du-thuoc-cho-y-te-co-so-trong-thang-92024-d220240.html