Establishing a Drug Price Management Council is necessary

The drug price management mechanism stated in the Draft Law on Pharmacy is a "hot" issue, discussed and commented on by Government members in a specialized legal meeting this morning (March 21).

The government held a special meeting on law.

The patient's interests must come first.

Reporting to the Government, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that according to current regulations, the Ministry of Health is assigned the task of managing drug prices. However, because the health sector does not have a price management department, the assignment of tasks between relevant ministries and sectors is also unclear... leading to many shortcomings in price management for this special item.

Therefore, in the draft Law on Pharmacy (amended 25/73 articles; added 7 articles), the Ministry of Health proposed to assign the authority to manage drug prices to the Ministry of Finance. Because according to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance is the price management agency, has deep expertise, has the apparatus and resources to manage. This also aims to ensure transparency in management. If the Ministry of Health - the agency that both produces, licenses, uses, and manages prices... is left alone, it will lead to a situation of "both playing football and blowing the whistle"; not ensuring objectivity and transparency in management.

Discussing this issue, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung suggested that the Ministry of Health still take the lead in managing drug prices, while other ministries will coordinate implementation.

Commenting on this issue, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam expressed his view that ultimately, all issues related to drug prices are borne by patients. Therefore, in principle, the Pharmacy Law must not increase drug prices after its promulgation. The interests of patients must be put first.

Need for inter-sectoral mechanism in drug price management

Regarding the proposal to assign the task of drug price management to the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that it is correct to think that the Ministry of Finance manages prices. But looking back at the problem, it is "not right". Because drugs have many ingredients and types, even the Minister of Finance cannot remember them all, so how can they be managed? Therefore, there needs to be an inter-sectoral mechanism, a council mechanism to manage drug prices, in which the Ministry of Health is in charge of drug price management, and other ministries are responsible for coordination.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh affirmed that drug prices are a very important issue. It is necessary to strictly manage supply and demand and the form of organization of distribution of this product. Emphasizing the importance of inter-sectoral coordination, the Deputy Prime Minister agreed with the viewpoint of establishing a Drug Price Management Council and that the Law should only stipulate principles, the Government will provide specific regulations.

Also on this issue, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that according to the new Constitution, this responsibility belongs to the Ministry of Health. Therefore, a National Council on Drug Pricing should be established, chaired by the Minister of Health. The Ministry of Health is primarily responsible to the nation, compatriots, and the Government.

Giving his opinion during the discussion session, the Prime Minister affirmed that the State must definitely manage drug prices, drug quality, and drug types. The issue must have an effective management mechanism and method. Accordingly, there must be a manager who is primarily responsible and at the same time there must be an inspector.

Must reduce drug prices

The Prime Minister stated that according to the current Law on Prices, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for prices in general. The specialized ministry manages prices specifically. To ensure objectivity and transparency, the proposal to establish a National Council for Drug Price Management is necessary. However, for issues with different opinions, unclear issues, and issues that are still being debated, the Draft Law should only stipulate principles, and the Government will provide specific regulations later.

To conclude the issue, the Prime Minister said: "The price of medicine in our country is still very high. I heard that the more bidding, the higher it goes"... because medicine is a very special product, "people cannot bargain, they are forced to buy it to treat their illness". Therefore, ministries and branches need to coordinate to strictly manage the price of hospital medicine and health insurance medicine to "pull down the price of medicine".

* Also in this morning's working session, the Government continued to discuss and give opinions on three projects: Law on Management and Use of State Capital in Production and Business Investment; Investment Law (amended); Enterprise Law (amended).

According to chinhphu.vn