Deputy PM urges better pharmacy management

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has urged authorities to tighten management over prescribed medicines and pharmacies in the development of an online network project.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has urged authorities to tighten management over prescribed medicines and pharmacies in the development of an online network project.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (second from the right)

The problem was discussed at the online conference about applying technology in managing pharmacies held by the Ministry of Health on August 24 in Hung Yen Province. The deputy PM said Vietnam's pharamcy management was the worst in the world. Any types of antibiotics could be bought everywhere without prescription.

It was also very difficult to control the medicine quality. He urged other agencies to quickly find a way to connect 61,000 pharmacies in Vietnam as the online pharmacy network will make the sector more transparent.

"Joining the network shows responsibility towards the patients so those that participate are should be welcomed," he said.

Even though the amount of fake and substandard medicines in Vietnam is only one-third of other ASEAN countries', Vietnam still has to tighten management, he said. The authorities were asked to expand the network and public health monitoring system.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien agreed that the pharmacy network will help control the prices and origin of medicines better. 25 provinces with 4,000 retail stores have participated in the project. Half of the stores have joined the national network.

Patients can easily research the medicine prices, expiry dates and origins online. The authorities will have another tool to manage the trading of prescribed medicines. The Ministry of Health has given online accounts to a total 4,178 retail stores as of now with over 22,000 types of medicines.