VietNamNet Bridge – Despite authorities' efforts to control the prices of drugs, many patients nationwide remain concerned about the rising costs of medicine.

Customers buy medicines at a pharmacy in Ha Noi's Giai Phong Street. Many foreign and domestic pharmaceutical firms have increased prices by 5-20 per cent. (Photo: VNS)

Since early this year, drug prices have been adjusted in a more transparent way than in previous years, when slight increases were done more often to elude inspections by authorities.

Tran Long, a diplomatic official in the Lang Thuong residential area in Ha Noi, said: "Before the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, I bought antibiotics for VND12,000 a dose, but it has jumped to VND14,500."

"At this rate, drug prices will go up faster than gold and US dollar prices, which could be a concern for even more well-off patients," Long said.

Several pharmacies on Ngoc Khanh, Lang Ha and Van Mieu streets in Ha Noi known as the pharmaceutical hub said they had received notice from drug importers and distributors about higher prices.

Many foreign pharmaceutical firms and domestic drug companies have adjusted prices by five to 20 per cent on a number of drugs, including special medicine, antibiotics, vitamins and pain-killers.

A survey conducted periodically by the Viet Nam Drug Trading and Production Association showed that prices of dozens of drugs were going up monthly, with the hike being more considerable for imported varieties.

Medical inspectors recently found that prices of 4.2 per cent out of nearly 4,000 imported drugs nationwide rose by an average of 2.2 per cent.

The volatility of the local drug market is partly due to the number of imported drugs that are in circulation, experts have said.

Nearly half are imported, while the remainder are made domestically, with 90 per cent of the drugs composed of imported raw materials.

Truong Quoc Cuong, head of the Drug Administration Department, said that medicine ranked ninth out of 11 essential goods whose prices jumped last year.

Ninety-seven per cent of drugs were sold at hospitals at lower prices than at outside pharmacies, an indication of lax management of drug prices, Cuong said.

To rein in drug prices amid the heavy reliance of the local drug market on imported drugs and materials, many industry insiders have suggested creating a tax form specifically for the pharmaceutical industry.

The tax form would clarify the Cost-Insurance-Freight (CIF) fees as well as planned wholesale prices that have been declared and re-declared.

This would assist inspectors whose responsibility is to determine whether drugs are being sold at declared prices.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News