Encouraging the use of home-made drugs

Statistics show that Vietnamese people spend some US$2-2.3 billion on medications annually.

However, 178 local producers’ revenue only accounts for half of the money as the rate of Vietnamese medications just stands for 11.9% at central-level hospitals and 33-60% at local-level facilities.

Domestically-made medications are diverse and meet the standards set by the World Health Organization, delegates to the conference said.

They emphasized the importance of raising medical staffs’ awareness of home-made medications when they write prescriptions.

It is also necessary to change people’s behavior toward the quality of Vietnam’s medications.

The country’s healthcare sector sets the target to increase the usage of locally-made medications by 3-5% by 2015.

Meanwhile, drug producers said they will strive to meet 60% of local drug demand by the next few years.

To reduce the reliance on imported medications, Vietnam launched the campaign “Vietnamese prioritize home-made drugs” has been launched since 2010 to support the domestic pharmaceutical industry and ensure a sufficient supply of drugs for treatment.

Upto 70% of the Vietnamese population are living in rural areas, and they need drugs to cure diseases rather than using costly, imported drugs.

In her remarks at the conference, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said the medical sector should control the bidding process in hospitals, tighten market management, and strictly deal with violations of regulations on product and service quality.

She went on to say that businesses should be aware of their role and responsibility toward increasing the quality of products and services for the sake of people’s health.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Hoang Trung Hai tasked the Ministry of Health to speed up communication programs on using Vietnamese medications.

The Ministry was also asked to stipulate list of medications which are not encouraged to be imported.

By Hai Minh