VietNamNet Bridge – Deputy Health Minister Cao Minh Quang said relevant ministries and agencies had failed to adopt their own measures to help manage drug prices.

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Officials from the Ha Noi Health Department inspect a pharmacy in Dong Anh District. Drug prices have yet to be managed property despite the efforts of ministries. (Photo: VNS)

He made the comments at a meeting between health officials and the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs on Monday.

The meeting was convened to discuss problems in curbing rising drug prices ahead of the 8th session of the 12th NA, which is scheduled to open today, Oct 20. It will last until November 27 and include further discussions on drug prices.

Yesterday's meeting raised a number of issues. Quang said periodical announcements of ceiling prices for drugs paid by the State budget or health insurance fund was not feasible, as it led to price increases for many other kinds of drugs.

Former Deputy Head of the ministry's Legal Department Trinh Thi Le Tram said unclear regulations on drug price management also caused financial losses for patients.

The law required hospitals to list wholesale prices of drugs but did not clearly regulate retail price mark-ups, she said.

Therefore, drug prices at hospitals' drugstores were often higher than the market price as the wholesale price recorded in their invoices included a five to ten per cent mark-up, she said.

Drug prices have fluctuated extraordinarily, greatly affecting people's lives, said Deputy Head of the NA Social Affairs Committee
Nguyen Van Tien.

"People may have to buy drugs at a price 20 times higher than the drug's production cost," he said.

The committee's chairwoman, Truong Thi Mai, proposed that the Industry and Trade Ministry promptly issue new regulations on drug promotion to ensure patients paid fair prices.

Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said the drug market in Viet Nam was very complicated and difficult to manage but it did not mean that the ministry would give up tackling the issue.

Prices for a number of imported drugs were increased by suppliers, making it hard for authorised agencies to manage, he said.

Viet Nam imports 50 per cent of its drugs and 90 per cent of drug materials, including 22,000 kinds of drugs and 1,500 kinds of active elements. Therefore, it is difficult to set a general price framework for management, he said.

During the first nine months of the year, the pharmaceutical price rise index was 3.2 per cent, ranking ninth among 11 basic commodities.

Trieu proposed the Government and National Assembly to consider making the Finance Ministry responsible for controlling drug prices in co-operation with the Health Ministry, as drug price management required economic and financial experts from both sectors.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News