Quickly remove obstacles and shortcomings in drug bidding

On the morning of August 19, the Provincial National Assembly Delegation led by Comrade Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, had a supervision of medical examination and treatment at the Northwest Regional General Hospital.

The Supervisory Delegation worked with the Northwestern Regional General Hospital. Photo: Thanh Le

Since 2018, the Northwest Regional General Hospital has been moved to a new facility, with appropriate investment and equipment. Currently, the Hospital has all the departments and rooms required by a provincial level II hospital, serving the medical examination and treatment of people in the mountainous areas of the Northwest of the province.

Doctor Tang Viet Ha - Director of the Northwest Regional General Hospital reports on the medical examination and treatment work of the unit. Photo: Thanh Le

The number of actual beds doubled.

According to the report of the Northwest Regional General Hospital, the current difficulty of the unit is the lack of high-tech equipment such as: MRI system, angiography system. The supply and use of medical supplies and drugs are sometimes not timely, human resources are still lacking compared to the demand,...

Hospital leaders reflect: Joint Circular No. 08/TTLT-BYT-BNV of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Home Affairs guiding the staffing standards in state-owned health facilities has been abolished but there is no document to replace it. This leads to the construction and calculation of staffing standards without basis, making it difficult to approve the hospital's recruitment and staffing plans.

Mr. Tran Nhat Minh - Full-time delegate of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation discussed the Hospital's human resource attraction policy. Photo: Thanh Le

The current problem at the hospital is that the planned number of beds is 450, but the actual number of beds is 900; at times it is up to 1,110. The overload of patients has put a lot of pressure on the unit. To meet the increasing demand for medical examination and treatment of the people, the hospital has recommended that the superior agency issue specific instructions for the hospital to expand its facilities.

Reflecting on the shortcomings in the bidding for drugs and medical supplies, Dr. Tang Viet Ha - Director of the Northwest Regional General Hospital proposed that the Ministry of Health amend Circular 15/2019/TT-BYT dated July 11, 2019 regulating drug bidding at public health facilities.

The Supervisory Delegation visited a patient undergoing dialysis at the Northwest Regional General Hospital. Photo: Thanh Le

“It is recommended that bidding for drugs, chemicals, and medical supplies be centralized at the Department of Health or the province's centralized bidding center to ensure a stable supply for hospitals to operate as before. The Ministry of Health and related agencies and sectors need to study and adjust medical service prices in accordance with the general economic situation and the health sector in particular, in order to improve the lives of health workers and compensate for the development of medical services in the current period" - Dr. Tang Viet Ha proposed.

The monitoring delegation visited and gave gifts to patients in difficult circumstances being treated at the hospital. Photo: Thanh Le

In addition, the unit also proposed that the Social Insurance agency resolve the backlog of medical examination and treatment costs used for patients with health insurance cards in the 2018-2021 period; difficulties in implementing the autonomous mechanism; policies to attract human resources for the health sector, etc.

Need to continue improving the quality of medical examination and treatment

Speaking at the meeting, Comrade Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation shared the difficulties with the unit. She highly appreciated the hospital's efforts in medical examination and treatment and effectively implemented the Party and State's policies on medical examination and treatment; training and development of human resources, etc.

The hospital is also the unit that uses revenue from medical services to purchase and invest in equipment and operate it effectively. The quality of medical examination and treatment is improved every year.

In recent times, the Hospital has focused on scientific research and the development of new techniques to serve medical examination and treatment in all fields. At the same time, it has promoted the application of information technology in the unit's activities, increasing the efficiency of medical examination and treatment, monitoring medical examination and treatment time, transparency and reducing waiting time for patients. In addition, the hospital has focused on training and transferring techniques to medical centers; doing a good job in preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic.

Comrade Thai Thi An Chung concluded the meeting. Photo: Thanh Le

Emphasizing the increasing needs of the people, comrade Thai Thi An Chung suggested that the hospital continue to pay attention to improving the quality of medical examination and treatment; research and deploy new techniques, minimizing professional errors; be proactive in supplying drugs and medical supplies; and carry out joint ventures in medical examination and treatment. The hospital needs to continue to pay attention to solutions for training and fostering human resources, scientific research, etc.

Regarding the recommendations and proposals of the Hospital, the Provincial National Assembly Delegation has compiled them to make recommendations to relevant ministries and branches.