Using the budget to support addiction treatment with alternative medicine

The Ministry of Finance has just issued Circular 73/2017/TT-BTC regulating the management and use of state budget resources to ensure and support health examination costs and costs of treating addiction to opium-like substances with replacement drugs.

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The Circular clearly states that the state budget shall ensure all costs of health examination and addiction treatment according to professional guidelines prescribed by the Minister of Health and the prices of medical examination and treatment services and addiction treatment services decided by competent authorities for state medical examination and treatment facilities and state addiction treatment facilities (costs of health examination and addiction treatment) for subjects who are addicted to opium-like substances and voluntarily participate in opium addiction treatment with substitution drugs in compulsory drug rehabilitation facilities, prisons, detention camps, compulsory education facilities, and reform schools.

The state budget supports at least 95% of the cost of health examination and addiction treatment for opium addicts who voluntarily participate in opium addiction treatment with replacement drugs at addiction treatment facilities belonging to one of the subjects specified in Clause 3, Article 22 of Decree No. 90/2016/ND-CP.

In case of support at a level higher than the minimum level prescribed above, it is implemented as follows: For Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and Government agencies: Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, and Government agencies, within the assigned budget estimate and the actual number of people voluntarily participating in addiction treatment at treatment facilities under their management, decide on a specific support level higher than the minimum level for appropriate implementation.

For localities: Provincial People's Councils, based on the ability to balance local budgets and the actual number of people voluntarily participating in addiction treatment at treatment facilities under local management, decide on a specific support level higher than the minimum level for appropriate implementation.

Also according to the Circular, the budget for supporting health examination costs and drug addiction treatment costs at each level is guaranteed by the budget of that level and arranged in the estimates of agencies and units assigned tasks according to the current budget decentralization.

Specifically, it is arranged in the social security expenditure estimate for treatment facilities managed by the labor, war invalids and social affairs sector; arranged in the national defense and security expenditure estimate for treatment facilities managed by the public security sector; arranged in the health expenditure estimate for treatment facilities managed by the health sector and other sectors.

This Circular takes effect from September 1, 2017.

Khanh Linh/chinhphu.vn