Vietnam’s most severely ill COVID-19 patient numbered 91 is supported by a ventilator during his treatment Cho Ray Hospital and earlier at HCM City Hospital for Tropical Disease (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – With ventilators
seen as essential to saving the lives of severely ill COVID-19 patients, the
among bought by hospitals nationwide has
triggered public scepticism.
Amid the pandemic, global demand for
ventilators has rocketed. However, there is a significant difference in each
machine’s price.
The Ministry of Public Security (MPS)
recently launched an inspection into medical facilities’ procurement, Thanh nien (Young people) newspaper has
reported.
On July 5, Quang Nam Province’s Department of
Health said the provincial People’s Committee had used more than 6 billion VND
(260,000 USD) from the public budget to buy seven fully-equipped ventilators
and 630 million VND (27,000 USD) for seven portable air compressors, all made
by US-based General Electric.
These machines were then distributed to four
local hospitals which treat .
Earlier, two of the nation’s top-tier
hospitals, Cho Ray in HCM City and Bach Mai in Hanoi purchased the same type of
ventilators at different prices – 850 million VND (36,700 USD) and 640 million
VND (27,600 USD), respectively. The cost gap was 210 million VND (9,000 USD).
Doctor Nguyen Tri Thuc, Director of the Cho Ray
Hospital, said they bought three high-end ventilators produced by GE
Healthcare. The machines were included in the hospital’s annual procurement
plan, not for COVID-19 response and therefore, were not purchased using the
national budget for disease control and prevention. The plan was approved by
the Ministry of Health (MoH).
The difference in prices, according to Thuc,
is due to additional functions the hospital required.
“These ventilators can measure blood and
bronchi oxygen levels, monitor electrocardiography, analyse blood
pressure, etc. We had to pay more for these functions,” said Thuc.
In Da Nang City, Doctor Le Duc Nhan, the city
hospital’s director, said it had nearly 80 ventilators before the outbreak. In
late January, the city’s Department of Health equipped it with two more
portable .
Nhan said the functions of ventilators were
diverse. “Based on options, performance, retailers and producers, a
ventilator can cost 200 million VND (8,600 USD) up to 2 billion VND (86,300 USD),
the same way you buy a car,” said Nhan.
The most expensive ventilator in Vietnam,
costing 1.45 billion VND (62,600 USD), belongs to the Central Highlands
province of Gia Lai.
The breathing machine, coded Carescape R860,
was included in a package of medical equipment for COVID-19 response valued 8.6
billion VND approved by Gia Lai Province Department of Health in April.
A ventilator with the same model of Carescape
R860 was bought by Khanh Hoa Province’s Department of Health in
August last year for only 789.5 million VND (34,000 USD). The Gia Lai
Province People’s Committee has tasked inspectors to determine the reason for
the price difference.
“According to the initial information we have
got, it was the same type of breathing machine but the ventilator that Gia Lai
Province General Hospital bought was Carescape R860 Metabolic-FRC – nebulizer.
This unit has additional functions such as nutritional
evaluation, functional residual capacity tool, gas analysis
module and so on,” said a representative of the provincial Department of
Health.
Pham Ba My, Director of the Gia Lai Province
General Hospital, said the machine had not been used as the province had not
reported any case of COVID-19.
“The ventilator is now sealed for inspection.
The purchase was strictly monitored. Gia Lai Province’s breathing machine
has the highest configuration with more than five additional functions,” said My.
The machine used in Khanh Hoa has performed
well in supporting COVID-19 patients, said Doctor Nguyen Dong, director of Khanh
Hoa Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
“As all patients have been discharged, the
machine is not in use,” said Dong.
The MoH is investigating the “real” prices of
ventilators, according to Nguyen Minh Tuan, head of the ministry’s Department
of Medical Equipment and Facilities.
“As localities organise bidding for
procurement on their own, we do not know why prices highly differ,” said Tuan.
“The same equipment might be bought at
different costs, depending on manufacturers’ policies or logistic
expenses. However, the gap cannot be too obvious,” he added.
“Evaluating and comparing to determine the
reasonable price in the procurement of medical equipment is quite difficult but
it can be done. The MoH is determining the ‘real’, reasonable prices for
medical equipment to be procured, firstly for testing machines,” he said.
Earlier in April, seven officials from Hanoi’s
Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and related companies, including the centre’s
director Nguyen Nhat Cam, were arrested for a COVID-19 testing machine
fraud.
The defendants confessed to police they had
jacked up the price of the machines and promised to return the money,
according to MPS./.
Source: VietnamPlus
