Provincial People's Council delegates request clarification of problems related to bidding for drugs and medical supplies

On the afternoon of December 7, the 11th session of the Nghe An Provincial People's Council continued with the group discussion session. At group 2 including the units: Nghi Loc, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, comrade Ho Sy Nguyet - Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Quynh Luu district chaired the discussion session.

Attending the discussion session at group 2 were members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee: Le Duc Cuong - Head of the Provincial Party Organization Committee; Ho Le Ngoc - Head of the Provincial Party Internal Affairs Committee; Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Chairwoman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee; Bui Thanh An - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

Also attending were comrade Bui Dinh Long - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and representatives of provincial departments, branches and sectors; leaders of Nghi Loc, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau and Quynh Luu localities.

Scene of discussion session group 2. Photo: Thanh Le

Explaining the reasons why health workers quit their jobs

Discussing in groups, delegates expressed high agreement with the report of the Provincial People's Committee and the appraisal report of the Provincial People's Council on the socio-economic situation in 2022 and the socio-economic development plan for 2023.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa - Deputy Chief of Office of the National Assembly Delegation and Provincial People's Council requested clarification of contents related to the health sector. Photo: Thanh Le

Regarding the health sector, delegate Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa - Deputy Chief of Office of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial People's Council requested the health sector to clarify whether among the more than 100 public health workers who requested to transfer to non-public sectors, change jobs and quit their jobs, there were grassroots health workers? Reviewing the development of programs, investment plans, and capacity building of the grassroots health system and preventive medicine. Clarifying the training and operation of the "family doctor" model in the province. Assessing the effectiveness of the need to amend and supplement Resolution 157/2014/NQ-HDND dated December 12, 2014 on a number of specific policies to support the development of public health human resources.

Delegate Nguyen Van Cong - Chairman of the Nghi Loc District Veterans Association, expressed concern about the public ethics of officials and civil servants. Photo: Thanh Le

Regarding the health sector, delegate Nguyen Duc Hong - Chairman of the Yen Thanh District Labor Federation reflected on the difficulties and inadequacies in the bidding process for drugs and medical consumables.

“According to regulations, some bidding packages worth less than 100 million VND must be implemented by designated bidding, while those worth more than 100 million VND must be bid. Among them, there are many important drugs, emergency drugs, and small bidding packages that must also be bid, so there are no units participating in the bidding, while these drugs are very essential. There needs to be flexible adjustments in the bidding process for drugs and medical consumables to ensure adequate supply of drugs for medical units,” delegate Nguyen Duc Hong proposed.

Mr. Hoang Van Bo - Chairman of Quynh Luu District People's Committee proposed to lease land to coastal residents for clam farming. Photo: Thanh Le

Clarifying the issues delegates were interested in, Mr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of the Department of Health said. In 2022, Nghe An will have 145health worker quit, including 69 grassroots health workers and 76 provincial health workers, transferred to work at non-public health facilities.

The Director of the Department of Health explained that the two main reasons why medical staff quit their jobs were due to the low salary and bonus policy for medical staff, and the pressure of disease modeling work, especially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The health sector has had different solutions from political and ideological work, increasing income for units, especially autonomous units, and proposing to the Government not to reduce staff.

Delegate Vu Anh The - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Council made a proposal on the issuance and exchange of land use right certificates. Photo: Thanh Le

Regarding the review of infrastructure, investment in basic medical equipment and preventive medicine, Mr. Duong Dinh Chinh said: Implementing the economic recovery program after the Covid-19 pandemic, the province has invested nearly 500 billion VND, of which more than 200 billion VND is for construction and nearly 300 billion VND is for preventive medicine and basic medicine. This policy has just been approved by the Provincial People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee assigned 500 billion VND to the Provincial Project Management Board to deploy investment in localities in the province.

Mr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of the Department of Health clarified the opinions of delegates related to the health sector. Photo: Thanh Le

Clarifying the effectiveness of the family doctor model, the Director of the Department of Health said: In 2016-2017, the family doctor model was popular and Nghe An was one of the localities that trained many family doctor models with 96 family doctors, which helped the grassroots health sector, especially health stations, in medical examination and treatment. However, this policy is no longer suitable for practice, and this model is currently suspended.

Regarding the amendment and supplementation of Resolution 157/2014/NQ-HDND dated December 12, 2014 on a number of specific policies to support the development of public health human resources, the Department of Health is planning to advise the Provincial People's Council to develop a new Resolution that is more suitable to reality.

Problems in bidding for drugs and medical supplies

Explaining the difficulties in implementing the bidding for drugs and medical consumables, Mr. Duong Dinh Chinh emphasized that the story of the shortage of drugs and medical supplies in hospitals has been mentioned in many forums. Up to now, Nghe An is using the 2021-2022 bidding for drugs, so it is basically meeting the demand, the industry has given timely instructions to serve drugs to patients, especially in emergency cases.

Responding to the concerns of delegates regarding whether it is okay to assign localities to carry out drug bidding, Mr. Chinh said that although bidding was previously centralized at the Department, due to the characteristics of the general bidding package, contractors were limited in participating. Therefore, the Department has a policy of decentralizing to hospitals so that units can be more proactive and convenient.

Ms. Dau Thi Minh Loan - Deputy Director of the Department of Finance further clarified the shortcomings and difficulties in the bidding process for drugs and medical supplies. Photo: Thanh Le

However, during the implementation process, there were many difficulties and problems, especially related to the independent price appraisal work of the Department of Finance, the public price of the Ministry was not complete. Especially related to the recent incidents, the units were very apprehensive. To remove difficulties for the units, the Department has regularly and closely followed this work; especially, it has established 10 teams to guide and accompany the units in the bidding work for drugs and medical supplies.

"Up to now, the Department of Health has completed the bidding plans, but we have to wait and see whether contractors will participate or not. If you ask me now: Will there be enough medicine and chemicals in 2023? I dare not answer that question because it depends on many objective factors," said the Director of the Department of Health.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung - Director of the Department of Home Affairs answered questions about administrative reform and public ethics of officials and civil servants. Photo: Thanh Le

Clarify issues related to valuation work in implementationdrug bidding, medical supplies, Ms. Dau Thi Minh Loan, Deputy Director of the Department of Finance said: Because the budget for purchasing chemicals for medical examination and treatment of the health sector is complex, specific, types, packaging specifications, active ingredients, technical parameters are of a specialized nature, the Department of Finance does not have the ability to control.

To ensure accuracy in advising the Provincial People's Committee to approve the procurement budget. On the other hand, when conducting bidding, it is necessary to review the names of drugs and materials. The Department of Finance recommends that the Department of Health and hospitals, when preparing bidding documents, coordinate with the Department of Finance to check and review technical parameters that are still problematic.

To resolve the above difficulties and problems, the Department of Finance issued Document No. 2024 dated June 10, 2022 asking for direction from the Provincial People's Committee.

Mr. Nguyen Van Truong - Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment clarified contents related to the disbursement of public investment capital. Photo: Thanh Le

In addition, the discussion of group 2 also focused on clarifying issues related to the quality of operations and management responsibilities of cooperative models, output for agricultural products; resolving the backlog of land use right certification; policies for non-professional officials at commune and hamlet levels; paying attention to removing difficulties for enterprises; causes of slow disbursement of public investment capital and measures to overcome difficulties.

Delegates' opinions reflect the poor sense of responsibility among cadres, civil servants and public employees, and the negative manifestations of harassment and harassment that cause trouble and lose the trust of the people and businesses. It is necessary to build a team of honest, dedicated and devoted cadres for the people. Build a truly clean public authority, taking the satisfaction of the people and businesses as a measure.

Delegates attending the discussion session. Photo: Thanh Le

Concluding the discussion, comrade Ho Sy Nguyet acknowledged and highly appreciated the intellectual, enthusiastic, and responsible exchange of opinions and the focused proposals. This showed that the delegates had a close grasp of the situation of the locality, agencies, units, and the opinions and recommendations of voters.

The opinions of the delegates have been received, explained and clarified by representatives of departments, branches and sectors; at the same time, they have been compiled by the Office of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial People's Council to report to the discussion session tomorrow morning, December 8.