Hai Duong basically has enough medicine to treat people.

The quantity of drugs that the Hai Duong Department of Health has organized for bidding is enough for medical facilities to use until June 2024.

2023 is the first year that Hai Duong as well as other localities nationwide will organize drug bidding through the national bidding network according to Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT dated March 12, 2023 of the Ministry of Health amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 15/2019/TT-BYT regulating drug bidding at public health facilities and Circular No. 08/2022/TT-BKHĐT dated May 31, 2022 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment detailing the provision and posting of information on bidding and contractor selection on the national bidding network with many new points. In particular, the Department of Health is assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to carry out centralized drug bidding at the local level; provincial hospitals, medical centers of districts, towns and cities organize drug bidding at the grassroots level (self-organize bidding) according to regulations.

Since March 2023, the Department of Health has organized the implementation of the bidding process for the supply of Generic drugs in the list of drugs for centralized bidding at the local level for public health facilities in Hai Duong province in 2023-2024. The Department of Health has established a team of experts and a bidding appraisal team, using officers with bidding certificates and rich experience to properly implement the bidding process according to regulations. Human resources participating in drug bidding work including holidays and weekends with the determination to get the earliest results, ensuring the source of drugs for treatment and health care for the people.

At the end of June, the Department of Health completed the bidding for the Generic drug supply package in the list of drugs for centralized bidding at the local level for public health facilities in Hai Duong province in 2023-2024. As a result, 111 drug categories won the bid with a value of more than 116.2 billion VND, including a variety of groups such as antibiotics, drugs for treating diabetes, blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

In addition, public health facilities in the province are purchasing drugs according to the results of national centralized bidding (41 drug categories worth more than 115.4 billion VND), price negotiation results (20 drug categories worth more than 54 billion VND) implemented by the National Center for Centralized Drug Procurement - Ministry of Health, effective from 2023-2025. The winning drug items have clear origins and guaranteed quality. Hai Duong basically does not allow prolonged drug shortages to occur, which greatly affects the treatment and health care of the people.

However, some drugs such as infusions, anesthetics... although they have won the bid, the contractor has not been able to supply them due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted the supply chain for imported goods and raw materials for drug production. Some winning drugs are in the process of applying for an extension of their registration number... To solve this problem, the Department of Health has directed the regulation of winning drugs among medical units; using other drugs with similar effects as substitutes; proactively purchasing necessary, specialized, and specific drugs (infusions, anesthetics, dialysis drugs, diabetes treatment, etc.) in appropriate forms and methods, in accordance with current regulations...

Regarding the bidding for drugs at the grassroots level, up to this point, most provincial hospitals, medical centers of districts, towns and cities have completed the process including the following steps: developing a contractor selection plan, submitting it to the Department of Health for appraisal, and submitting it to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. The Department of Health directs units whose contractor selection plans have been approved by the Provincial People's Committee to urgently implement the bidding work, get results soon, and avoid delays that affect patient treatment activities. All public health facilities will complete the organization of necessary drug bidding in August and September 2023.

Since this is the first year that public health facilities have organized their own online drug bidding and implemented the newly issued bidding guidelines (Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT, Circular 08/2022/TT-BKHĐT), they have encountered many difficulties, obstacles, and confusion because the human resources doing procurement and bidding work at the facilities are mainly part-time and inexperienced. These difficulties are being gradually resolved by the relevant authorities at all levels and sectors.

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