The medical examination and treatment units organize bidding to purchase drugs and medical supplies in accordance with reality.

However, this is a policy in accordance with legal regulations and in line with the actual situation. In the following years, the bidding for procurement at the units will certainly continue to be implemented and implemented more effectively. Pharmacist Tran Minh Tue - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health had an interview with Nghe An Newspaper on the above content.

PV:2022 is the first year Nghe An organizes bidding for the purchase of drugs, chemicals, biological products and medical consumables right at medical units, instead of having to organize centralized bidding at the Department of Health as before. Can you tell us about the situation when this change occurs?

Pharmacist Tran Minh Tue:From 2007 to 2022, in Nghe An,biddingThe concentration of drugs, a part of chemicals and a part of medical consumables is organized at the Department of Health. However, in the implementation process, there are also some difficulties.

Bidding for the purchase of drugs and medical supplies is taking place at three levels. 2022 is the first year Nghe An organizes bidding for the purchase of drugs, chemicals, biological products and medical consumables right at medical units.

The first difficulty is that medical examination and treatment facilities in Nghe An have many forms of organization such as general hospitals, specialized hospitals, provincial hospitals, district hospitals and even medical examination and treatment facilities at commune level. Therefore, the use of drugs, chemicals, biological products and medical consumables of these units is also very different.

After the Department of Health organizes the selection of suppliers, the application of the Department's bidding results to the units to meet the needs of use is not much, very small. Therefore, the units organizing their own bidding will help the units choose the appropriate items according to their organizational form, as well as purchase and use drugs, chemicals, biological products and medical consumables more effectively.

The second difficulty is that the human resources working at the Department of Health are very thin. The specialized departments and offices of the Department perform the task of state management of health in the whole province. When organizing bidding at the Department of Health, the Department must concentrate a large amount of human resources of the departments and offices on bidding work. At that time, the amount of time that the staff of the specialized departments and offices spend on the grassroots, on state management of health will not be much; inspection and supervision work will not take place regularly.

Therefore, on that basis, according to the authority and regulations, the organization of centralized bidding for the purchase of drugs, a part of chemicals and a part of medical supplies at the Department of Health only has 129 drug items on the list of centralized bidding at the local level. For all remaining items, the Department directs medical units to develop and organize bidding themselves to suit the actual situation, close to their usage needs.

PV:Before this new policy, how has the Nghe An Department of Health supported the units to avoid confusion and comply with the law, sir?

Pharmacist Tran Minh Tue:During the procurement process, the Department of Health always accompanies the units. The Department has established 10 working groups with the participation of experienced personnel, selected from provincial units to regularly connect, guide, and guide the units. The Department has also organized many training sessions on procurement to guide legal regulations and develop standard bidding procedures and sample procedures for units to implement, ensuring the right progress and compliance with legal regulations...

The fact that contractors do not participate or fail to bid for many items will greatly affect medical examination and treatment. Photo: Internet

In 2022, the Department of Health has issued official dispatches clearly directing the implementation of the 2023 contractor selection plan for drugs that the unit organizes its own bidding; reserves of drugs, chemicals, and medical supplies while awaiting the bidding results of 2023 to medical facilities in the province. The official dispatches clearly state the bidding process and roadmap. The Department of Health requires units to actively and proactively deploy necessary measures to comply with the bidding roadmap for the procurement of chemicals and medical supplies for use in 2023.

The Department also requested units to review, evaluate, and develop an estimate of drug demand in 2023. For items with winning bidders, reserve sufficient quantities of goods for use during the time of completing procurement procedures according to the bidding results in 2023; for items without selected bidders, reserve sufficient quantities of goods for use during the re-bidding period... to ensure proactive and timely supply of adequate drugs, chemicals, and medical supplies for medical examination and treatment in 2023.

PV:Can you tell us more about the results of the 2023 drug procurement bidding at medical units that was just held?

Pharmacist Tran Minh Tue:Up to this point, the units have basically completed the procurement of drugs. As for the procurement of supplies, chemicals, and biological products, the medical examination and treatment units are also in the bidding stage.

According to information gathered from medical examination and treatment units, the selection of contractors to organize drug procurement in the past was not much, the rate of failed items was also high... Currently, the Department of Health is requesting the units to evaluate and report to the Department for synthesis in order to have analysis and propose solutions that are close to the actual situation.

For example, because the lidocaine drug was not successfully bid, dental treatment at medical facilities in the province will also be affected to some extent. Photo: Thanh Chung

There are many reasons for the failure of many items to bid, specifically: No bidders participating; low planned construction prices (due to State and Law regulations), in which the price appraisal stage in the bidding process is very time-consuming, many independent appraisal units refuse to appraise prices due to concerns for some reason (although the Department of Health has instructed medical examination and treatment units to connect with nearly 300 appraisal units nationwide)...

In addition, there is another reason that drug manufacturers and importers have had their supply sources from abroad disrupted. Domestic manufacturers have reported that the source of imported raw materials from abroad is very limited, leading to a shortage of some products. The shortage of drugs is happening nationwide and globally.

Based on the drug procurement bidding results report of the units, the Department of Health and the units will analyze and evaluate the specific reasons why the contractor did not participate and why the bid was rejected. If the bid was rejected due to technical standards, the technical standards must be reviewed and rebuilt; if the bid was rejected due to low planned prices, the prices must be reviewed, proposed, re-evaluated and the bidding must be re-organized promptly.

PV:Through the understanding from medical examination and treatment facilities and even centralized bidding at the Department of Health, many pharmaceutical products have not won the bid. With this result, Nghe An is facing the risk of shortage of drugs, biological products, and chemicals.matterand medical supplies consumed in the coming time or not?

The State and the health sector have been implementing many solutions to ensure medicine, chemicals, and medical supplies to serve medical examination and treatment. Photo: Thanh Chung

Pharmacist Tran Minh Tue:In the near future, we may also face the risk of drug shortages due to some items failing to bid for the reasons mentioned above. To address the risk of drug shortages, the Department of Health has directed units to proactively seek alternative products with similar effects. For scarce items, units must be proactive in the supply issue to have a reserve solution to ensure enough drugs, materials, and chemicals for medical examination and treatment.

With the items currently lacking nationwide,Ministry of Healthhave also taken action. The National Assembly has recently passed a resolution to extend the validity of the registration number for some items that have expired… It must be said that we are trying to find and implement many solutions to ensure good medical examination, treatment and health care for patients.

PV:According to medical examination and treatment facilities, implementing procurement bidding at the unit is extremely difficult, takes too much effort, and is prone to errors. Many facilities recommend returning to the form of centralized bidding at the Department or finding another solution. What can you say about this?

Pharmacist Tran Minh Tue:The issue of purchasing pharmaceutical products, chemicals, biological products, and medical supplies for medical examination and treatment facilities is carried out according to the provisions of law. Currently, centralized bidding at the local level, according to the provisions of law, only implements bidding for 129 pharmaceutical items. For other pharmaceutical items, the law stipulates that the units organize the bidding themselves... As for chemicals and supplies, there are currently no regulations on centralized bidding.

The Department of Health has proposed to the provincial and central levels that an independent unit - a centralized bidding center - should be established to be more effective and professional in organizing matters. The Department of Health is a state agency that manages bidding, not a bidding organization. According to legal regulations, the Department of Health is assigned the task of appraising the contractor selection plan. If the appraisal task has been performed but the bidding is still organized, this is an inadequacy, "both playing football and blowing the whistle". Therefore, it is more appropriate to transfer the organization of procurement bidding to the units...

This is the first year that the units organize bidding. In the following years, bidding work at the units will continue to be organized. Once familiar with the work, the bidding organization will be faster, tighter, more complete and closer to the reality of the units. Certainly, bidding at the unit will be more effective than centralized bidding. The Department of Health is the state management agency that will direct, guide and absolutely support the units.

PV:Thank you for the conversation!