MOH must closely supervise pharmaceuticals that could be potentially monopolised and respond appropriately, ordered Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan

The Ministry of Health must closely supervise pharmaceuticals that could be potentially monopolised and respond appropriately, ordered Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan during a meeting with the ministry’s officials in Ha Noi this week.

Unhealthy competition remains on medicine market

Vietnam wants more FDI into drug sector

Drug makers eye Cambodia

Customers shop for medicines at a drug store in Ha Noi. The Ministry of Health has ordered phamacies nationwide to list prices on product packaging to prevent illegal price hikes.

The ministry should encourage the production of competitive pharmaceuticals, while being mindful of drug supplies, Nhan said.

He also ordered pharmacies to list the price on the products’ labels in order to prevent price hikes.

Pharmaceutical prices must not be merely based on technical factors, but should take market forces into consideration as well, Nhan said.

The ministry should take into account the profits reported by pharmaceutical producers, but they should define the ceiling and floor prices and ceiling profits for pharmaceuticals.

Nguyen Huu Vu, deputy head of the Government Office, pointed out several problems in the Vietnamese drug market. Many people bought medicine, said the official, without possessing appropriate prescriptions. He also claimed that there were a larger number of pharmaceutical retailers in comparison to actual demand, and that the over commercialisation and advertisement of several types of pharmaceuticals had destabilised drug prices.

Vu said most of the problems pervasive in the drug market were a result of inadequate regulation.

For example, while the Law on Pharmacy stipulates that the Ministry of Health must publicly announce ceiling prices for pharmaceuticals subsi-dised by the State budget and medical insurance, reports from the ministry show the publication of drug prices leads to inflation.

Le Quang Cuong, director of the Institute of Medical Strategic Policy, said that in countries where the drug market was fairly competitive, the governments played an important role in defining market prices.

In the United States, where there was minimal government intervention, pharmaceutical prices were 30 per cent higher than the world average, he said.

The Ministry of Health would review a list of pharmaceutical categories and prices, and then formulate appropriate regulations that would still allow producers to earn profits, said Truong Quoc Cuong, who heads the pharmacy management department.

The ministry was also considering implementing several management structures, including prescription regulations and a decree that allows pharmacists to provide consumers with information about drugs, but forbids them from advertising products.

Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu said the ministry would make sure that pharmaceuticals sold in hospitals would closely follow their regulated prices.

The hospital directors and department heads must be responsible for this issue, Trieu said.

Corrupt business

The corrupt pharmaceutical businesses uncovered during an investigation by the health ministry’s pharmacy department had been strictly punished, the Government’s website announced this week.

Twelve domestic and 10 foreign drug businesses were abolished, while one foreign company had its licence stripped.

Five additional pharmaceutical businesses, four of which were located in HCM City, are being punished by the health department.

The investigation conducted by the department also found 97.78 per cent of pharmaceutical drugs available in hospital’s drug stores were sold at lower prices than at pharmacies. The average price differential was 6.82 per cent.

The investigation also showed that for several types of drugs, the market prices were higher than the regulated prices.

Source: VNS