VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of drugstores may have to suspend operations if they do not connect with the national drug supply chain management system this month.

Thousands of drugstores may have to suspend operations in HCM City if they do not connect to the national drug supply chain management system this month. — VNA/VNS Photo

The national management system helps to control the supply of medicine and the sale of drugs that must have prescriptions from a doctor.

With more than 6,000 drugstores, HCM City has the largest number of drugstores in the country. However, since March 26, only 61 per cent of drugstores in the city have connected to the management system.

According to the city’s Department of Health, from April 1, drugstores that have not connected to the system will have operations suspended.

Tang Chi Thuong, deputy director of the city’s Department of Health, said the department had asked all drugstores in the city to connect with the system before March 31.

The system is part of an important mission being undertaken as part of the sixth plenum of the Party Central Committee’s resolution on the improvement of people’s health.

Information about drugs on the market, including quality, source and price, is available in the system, and local residents will be able to check the origin of medicine as well as expiration dates.

According to the Ministry of Health, the system has updated a list of 52,000 out of 60,000 medicines, helping to identify the origin of the medicines. New information is being updated to the system every day.

Through the system, prescriptions at hospitals will be recorded so that manufacturers as well as import and export companies will be aware of what is being sold and if there is a shortage or surplus. 

Source: VNS