The Ministry of Health requires that there is no shortage of medicines for patients with health insurance

The Ministry of Health has just sent an urgent document to the Departments of Health of the provinces and cities, hospitals with hospital beds under the Ministry of Health, medical examination and treatment establishments belonging to ministries and branches, and the national centralized shopping center for drugs. , Financial Planning Department – Ministry of Health on urging procurement and bidding of drugs and medical supplies to meet medical examination and treatment under health insurance.

Ensuring the benefits of health insurance participants

The document of the Ministry of Health said that according to media reports in recent days, there is a shortage of drugs in the treatment of patients covered by health insurance at some medical examination and treatment facilities.

In order not to disrupt medical examination and treatment and the interests of health insurance participants, the Ministry of Health proposes the heads of the above units to study and organize to fully and properly implement the provisions of the law on health insurance. health insurance and relevant legal documents to meet the medical examination and treatment covered by health insurance.

The Ministry of Health also requested the units to fully perform relevant responsibilities in accordance with the law on bidding, procurement of drugs and medical supplies, etc. to fully supply drugs and medical supplies. health insurance, ensuring the rights and interests of health insurance participants.

In the course of implementation, if there are difficulties or problems, the units are requested to summarize and report to the competent authorities for consideration and settlement.

Health facilities proactively procure drugs to ensure treatment for patients covered by health insurance

Previously, related to Cho Ray Hospital (HCMC) lack of anti-rejection drugs, kidney transplant patients had to buy drugs outside, the Ministry of Health also said, on November 24, 2021, the Shopping Center The National Drug Concentration has issued Official Letter No. 580/TTMS-NVD to the Departments of Health of the provinces and cities, the Health of the Ministries, branches and the hospitals/hospitals with hospital beds under the Ministry of Health on the proposal of Medical facilities are responsible for proactive procurement as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 18 of Circular 15/2019/TT-BYT dated July 11, 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,” stated the Ministry of Health.

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.