The municipal People's Committee has issued a decision to approve the project to develop the city’s pharmaceutical industry by 2030 with a vision to 2045.

This is an important step for the city to soon have the country’s largest medical and pharmaceutical industrial park.

Tăng Chí Thương, director of the city’s Department of Health, said Việt Nam is facing a shortage of drugs amid a disruption in the supply of finished drugs and raw materials for domestic drug production due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and instability caused by political conflicts among several countries around the world.

Therefore, ensuring pharmaceutical security has become a top priority in the healthcare sector. The focus will be placed on supply chain management and improving domestic pharmaceutical production capacity.

The city has potential to develop its pharmaceutical industry as it is a trade centre in the southern region, which is convenient for transporting and supplying drugs to other areas.

It is home to research facilities, training institutions and production establishments.

Pharmaceutical production, business, and import and export activities in the city always have high growth and account for a large proportion of the country's pharmaceutical economic structure, he said.

The project to develop the city's pharmaceutical industry by 2030 with a vision to 2045 is considered a strategic action programme to meet the integration requirements of economic, scientific and technical development.

Accordingly, the city will focus on transferring technology to produce drugs and medical equipment, prioritising the production of medical equipment using advanced technologies, and producing vaccines, biological products, new drugs, and inventing drugs to meet domestic disease prevention and treatment needs.

It will produce medicines which gradually replace imported drugs, and Vietnamese-made drugs will be exported to other countries at a competitive price.

It will form and develop a specialised medical and pharmaceutical industrial park in the city.

The implementation of the project follows the Party and State's policies on improving people's health and strengthening State management in the field of medicine and pharmacy in the city.

The city’s medical and pharmaceutical industrial park will have a centre for research, development and innovation in the field of medicine and pharmacy, large establishments manufacturing and trading specialised medical and pharmaceutical products, supporting products in the high-tech segment, and a trading centre for specialised medical and pharmaceutical products and ancillary products.

It is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2030, with special support policies from the central Government and the city, in order to create a favourable environment for businesses to sell their products in the market.

It is planned to cover an area of 338 hectares in Lê Minh Xuân 2 Industrial Park in Bình Chánh District. — VNS