1 stent, 2 Vietnamese hospitals price difference of nearly 30 million VND

At the working session of the Deputy Prime MinisterVuong Dinh HueSpeaking with the Ministry of Health about health insurance and medical service prices yesterday afternoon, Mr. Pham Luong Son, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Social Security, pointed out many shortcomings in the prices of medical supplies, when the same type has too much price difference.

Social Insurance proposes to organize a national-level centralized bidding for medical supplies and equipment this year, focusing on 6 groups with high usage and large payment value.

Group 1: All types of artificial lenses. In 2017, the Health Insurance Fund paid for nearly 300,000 lenses with a value of nearly 900 billion VND.

However, the Health Insurance believes that the price range is very wide, from 200,000 VND for hard core to 28 million VND for soft core. Therefore, it is necessary to divide the price range according to technical criteria groups.

Group 2: Coronary artery stents. Last year, the health insurance fund paid for more than 29,500 stents worth nearly VND1,100 billion. Prices ranged from VND12-60 million, not including biological stents that cost over VND200 million each.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue interrupted: “This must prove that the same stent has different prices, and different price ranges for different types of stents is normal. To be precise, if there is no communication, public opinion will misunderstand.”

Mr. Son cited an example, a type of German coronary stent, the price at a hospital in Thanh Hoa is more than 58 million VND, the price at Thong Nhat General Hospital (Dong Nai) is 38.5 million VND, while at Bac Giang General Hospital it is only 29.4 million VND.

Group 3: Artificial joints: The number of payments in 2017 was more than 16,000 with a total value of 541 billion VND.

In which, although the socket is the same type, the price in Phu Tho is 58 million VND, in Thanh Hoa is 38 million VND.

Group 4: Intravenous catheters: Last year, the fund paid nearly 15 million pieces, total expenditure over 156 billion VND.

Group 5: Screws, fasteners: The number of uses is very large, nearly 813,000 pieces, equivalent to 952 billion VND.

Group 6: Balloons: Health Insurance Fund paid for more than 40,000, total value over 294 billion VND.

Avoid cheap healthcare

As an expert with decades of experience in the industry, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hiep, Director of the Central Eye Hospital, explained that there are currently too many lens suppliers from many countries.

Even in the same country, there are many different criteria, and in each country there are many companies, not to mention companies that are joint ventures with other countries... so it is very difficult to control price and quality.

“Having worked in the industry for decades, I know that there are big companies that invest a lot in technology, so their prices are high. Also in that country, there are many less well-known companies with different criteria. Now, with more companies from Korea, Greece, Türkiye... joining in, if you are not careful when bidding, you can easily violate the law,” said Mr. Hiep.

The Director of the Central Eye Hospital added that hospital directors really want to do it right, and have clear regulations to implement, but in reality, there are still none, so it is very difficult. If we follow the bidding regulations and take the lowest price in the current situation of many new suppliers, we are afraid that the quality will not be guaranteed.

Agreeing, Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Director of the Department of Medical Equipment and Construction, said that poor quality drugs can be adjusted and changed, but if the consumable materials are implanted in the body, it is very difficult to operate on them.

"This must be considered and chosen between technical criteria and price to avoid cheap healthcare," said Mr. Tuan.

In conclusion, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue noted that we should not be perfectionist in bidding for equipment, but should try to pilot it within hospitals under the Ministry of Health this year.

“The spirit is openness, transparency, quality must be put first, ensuring price competitiveness. We cannot sacrifice the interests of patients for the sake of price,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.