Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (middle, second from left) and Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien (third from left) inspect a retail drug store in Hung Yen, after the launch of a national network . (Photo: VNA)
Hung Yen (VNS/VNA) – A national
portal of pharmacies throughout Vietnam was officially launched on August 24, in a bid to inhibit the sale of low quality drugs on the market and
keep prices in check.
With the portal, which currently comprises
nearly 4,200 stores out of 62,000 across Vietnam, users can easily look up the
use, price and origins of available drugs, as well as receive up-to-date
warnings from health authorities about medicines of questionable quality.
Speaking at the launch event and the
accompanying conference on incorporating information technology in nationwide
drug supply held in the northern province of Hung Yen, Health Minister Nguyen Thi
Kim Tien deemed the launch of the portal a ‘landmark development’ in the
country’s drug supply.
The move is in line with the Vietnamese
Government’s national strategy on development towards 2020-30 that set
goals of “ensuring stable supply of high-quality drugs for all Vietnamese
people” and striving for “safe, proper and effective use of drugs,” she said.
Minister Tien said that the scheme seeks to
remedy a plethora of issues facing the country’s drug supply.
The rampant sale and purchase of drugs
without doctors’ prescriptions, especially antibiotics, has led to increasing
risks of antibiotic resistance through misuse and overuse, putting Vietnam
among countries with the highest rate of the phenomenon, she said.
She also lamented the current state of drug
distribution in Vietnam, saying that there are too many “intermediary layers”
which cause disproportionately inflated prices and difficulties in tracing the
origins of products.
To address these issues, the health
ministry has adopted a project to strengthen management of prescriptions and
sale of prescription drugs in the 2017-20 period.
The ministry is also preparing to make it a
legal obligation for all drug stores to connect to a common network (those who
deliberately fail to follow this regulation might even have their licences
revoked), and conduct piloting of the drug store portal in selected provinces –
namely Phu Tho, Hung Yen, Vinh Phuc and Nam Dinh.
The initial success of the pilot project
has encouraged the implementation of the scheme, which has now seen 25
provinces and centrally-directed municipalities across the country joining the
network, with the participation of nearly 4,200 retail drug stores and an
archive of 22,000 electronic prescriptions.
Increased transparency in drug sales would
benefit both consumers and concerned authorities, minister Tien said.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam stressed
that the portal is expected to “remove undesired activities and fraud,” and
asked the health ministry to ramp up information campaigns about the scheme.
The next step the health ministry must
focus on is the development of electronic medical records for all citizens, he
said.
Up to 71.15 percent of all drug stores in
the country have internet access, but only 48 percent actually use computer
software to manage sales, according to the health ministry.-VNS/VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
