Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee: It is necessary to strictly handle unlicensed medical and pharmaceutical establishments

Overview of the conference to evaluate the results of 2 years of implementing Directive 03/CT-UBND dated January 29, 2018 of the Provincial People's Committee. Photo by Thanh Chung

On the morning of May 15, the People's Committee of Nghe An province held a conference to evaluate the results of 2 years of implementing Directive 03/CT-UBND dated January 29, 2018 of the Provincial People's Committee on continuing to strengthen the management of non-public medical and pharmaceutical practice activities in Nghe An province. Comrade Bui Dinh Long - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference; representatives of leaders of departments, branches and localities in the province attended.

Over 165 establishments practicing without a license

According to the report of Nghe An Department of Health: The total number of licensed medical and pharmaceutical establishments in the province is currently 2,801, including 566 medical establishments and 2,235 pharmaceutical establishments. The total number of unlicensed medical and pharmaceutical establishments reviewed and reported by the districts before the issuance of Directive No. 03/CT-UBND was 685 establishments; after implementing the Directive, by February 29, 2020, there were 165 establishments (a decrease of 520 establishments).

Implementing Directive 03, over the past 2 years, the Department of Health has coordinated with the Provincial Police and Nghe An Market Management to establish 30 inspection teams. The teams have inspected 257 establishments and fined 67 establishments with a total of 870 million VND, and notified the People's Committees of the districts to handle 55 establishments that were practicing without a license.

The People's Committees of districts, cities and towns have organized 1-2 inspections per year and inspected 1,639 establishments, fined 269 establishments, fined more than 1.1 billion VND, and suspended 520 establishments operating without a license. The provincial police have inspected and handled 39 cases of transporting and trading goods without proper documents, confiscating many cosmetic products and medicines with a total value of more than 506 million VND. The provincial Market Management Department has inspected 457 establishments, handled violations of 253 establishments with a total fine of more than 530 million VND.

There are still many unlicensed medical and pharmaceutical establishments operating in the province. Photo: Thanh Chung

Currently, the implementation of Directive 03 still faces many shortcomings and difficulties. There are still many unlicensed establishments, operating on a small scale in families without signs, making it difficult to detect, inspect and handle. The number of 165 unlicensed establishments reported today is lower than the actual number of unlicensed establishments.

Know everything, know everything... but not handled seriously

At the conference, delegates focused on analyzing the causes of the problems. Accordingly: The situation of unlicensed medical and pharmaceutical establishments still exists, which is determined to be due to the lack of strict inspection, supervision, and post-inspection work, leading to a number of establishments being suspended and then re-opened.

“Authorities at all levels, especially at the commune level, have not yet had appropriate solutions to thoroughly resolve the issue of illegal practice in the area. Authorities at all levels know about all illegal and violating establishments, but they are too lenient and do not handle them... When the district level handles the matter, there are phone calls asking for help,” said a district health department head.

Doctor Nguyen Tat Hong - Head of the Do Luong District Health Department pointed out the difficulties and shortcomings in the management of non-public medical practice. Photo: Thanh Chung

Some districts have not arranged the budget and inter-sectoral human resources for the inspection of private medical and pharmaceutical practices, mainly assigning the responsibility to the Health Department. Other sectors have not participated fully and have not promoted their responsibility in performing their duties. Meanwhile, most local health departments have only 1-2 people. Coordination between sectors and localities is not good.

Must be truly responsible

In his concluding remarks at the conference, comrade Bui Dinh Long stated: Directive 03 has been implemented, improving the efficiency and quality of operations of non-public medical and pharmaceutical establishments, creating convenience and contributing to the good implementation of public health care. In addition, the management of non-public medical and pharmaceutical practice still has many shortcomings and limitations when there are still establishments operating without permission, violating, causing social instability, lack of objectivity and fairness towards units that strictly implement.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long requested all levels, sectors and units to continue to implement Directive 03 well. Photo: Thanh Chung

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested: All levels, sectors, localities, and practice establishments must continue to strictly implement Directive 03. The Department of Health shall strengthen inspection, examination, supervision, and guidance activities for practice establishments and localities in the province; detect and strictly handle ministries in the sector that violate the directive, units with officials who violate the directive (if any); review legal documents that are still unreasonably overlapping in the field to advise the province and the central government to amend. The Provincial Police and the Nghe An Market Management Department shall continue to perform well in detecting and handling violations according to their functions and tasks.

It is necessary to promote the leadership and direction of Party committees in the management of non-public medical practice. People's Committees of districts, cities and towns must clearly assign tasks to implement Directive 03 to each sector, commune, ward, town and health stations; must evaluate which units are good and which are not, which cadres are still avoiding and refusing to do so in order to have specific solutions. People's Committees at district level are fully responsible if violations of Directive 03 occur in the area. Health Departments of districts, cities and towns actively grasp information about violating establishments and establishments facing difficulties in completing licenses to advise on handling and assistance./.

Thanh Chung