The lack of medicine due to the delay in bidding is the responsibility of the medical facility

According to the Ministry of Health, in the past few days, the Ministry of Health has received information reflecting that Cho Ray Hospital (HCMC) lacks anti-rejection drugs, kidney transplant patients have to buy drugs outside.

In this regard, the Ministry of Health informed as follows: Cho Ray Hospital lacks anti-rejection drugs, causing kidney transplant patients to have to buy drugs from outside.

There have been many solutions to overcome the shortage of drugs

According to the report of Cho Ray Hospital, the hospital has solutions to immediately overcome this situation, specifically: Expeditiously organize the selection of drug supply contractors by appropriate forms to ensure immediate After the holiday (April 30 – May 1), there are drugs to meet the treatment needs of patients, contact medical facilities with drugs in Ho Chi Minh City to transfer patients for treatment and receive treatment. health insurance policy as prescribed.

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Health also said that on November 24, 2021, the National Center for Centralized Drug Procurement has issued Official Letter No. 580/TTMS-NVD to the Departments of Health of the provinces, cities, and cities. Ministries, branches and hospitals/hospitals with hospital beds under the Ministry of Health on requesting medical facilities to take the initiative in procurement according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 18 of Circular 15/2019/TT – MOH dated 11/7/2019 of the Ministry of Health to ensure the supply of drugs for treatment needs.

According to the Ministry of Health, the national centralized bidding and price negotiation have not yet resulted in a number of reasons, for the national centralized bidding: “Due to the need to conduct a review of the bidding list, the Before the time of bid opening, the expert group is in the process of evaluating and clarifying the bid documents to ensure that it meets the principles of competition, fairness, transparency and economic efficiency of the company. tendering.

As for price negotiation: It is a new form of bidding and has been applied only to drugs since 2018. Currently, the Drug Price Negotiating Council is actively conducting price negotiation for 66 drugs. generic drugs, including anti-rejection drugs used for kidney transplant patients.

The fact that for the first time negotiating a large number of brand-name drugs together with limited human resources for price negotiation, mainly part-time, are also difficulties affecting the progress of the work. price negotiation”, the Ministry of Health stated.

Currently, the Ministry of Health is directing the National Center for Centralized Drug Procurement to urgently implement the national centralized bidding for drugs and negotiate prices. As soon as the results are available, the Ministry of Health (National Centralized Drug Procurement Center) will announce the winning results and reach a framework agreement for medical facilities to deploy and implement.

Medical facilities are responsible for the slow bidding of drugs, causing drug shortages for patients

Regarding the drug bidding, on April 28, at the periodic information session for the press, Mr. Le Van Phuc – Head of the Health Insurance Policy Implementation Department (Vietnam Social Insurance) said that the procurement and bidding of drugs divided into three levels.

At the national level, the Ministry of Health shall conduct centralized bidding for a number of drugs according to the list; local centralized bidding at the provincial level by the Department of Health; Medical facilities under the Ministry of Health such as Cho Ray Hospital (HCMC) are decentralized to self-bid. With bidding packages over 5 billion approved by the Ministry of Health, below the above level is decided by the hospital if it is financially self-sufficient.

Mr. Phuc said that for drug packages under 5 billion, if the delay causes a shortage of drugs for patients, the responsibility lies with the medical examination and treatment facility.

According to Mr. Phuc, when the drugs are almost out, medical examination and treatment establishments must develop plans and organize bidding. Current regulations specify that Social Insurance participates in the bidding process and regularly advises Departments of Health and hospitals when the old bidding package is about to expire, developing a plan for the new bidding round. The preparation process usually lasts several months, if December expires, then June – July must be planned.