About to submit to the Government a plan to solve the problem of borrowing and lending medical equipment to prevent epidemics

On the afternoon of May 23, the National Assembly discussed the results of monitoring the settlement of voters' petitions sent to the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

Speaking at the meeting, National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong, from the Binh Thuan Province Delegation, said that the Binh Thuan Province Delegation has received applications from companies lending medical equipment and biological products to medical facilities to help prevent and control the Covid-19 pandemic, but these have not yet been paid or resolved. Therefore, the delegate expressed his hope that the Ministry of Health will soon advise competent authorities to issue documents to resolve this issue.

National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Huu Thong hopes that the Ministry of Health will pay attention to the content of calculating interest for businesses from the time they borrow goods and equipment until now and the financial mechanism for localities and medical facilities...BMinister of Health Dao Hong Lan informed that 200 petitions from voters have been received and the Ministry has responded to all of them. Regarding the issue raised by National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Huu Thong, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the law currently does not regulate the borrowing of drugs, biological products, supplies, and equipment for use in the prevention of the Covid-19 epidemic.

"During the recent Covid-19 outbreak, due to urgent situations, some medical units and localities had to borrow, borrow, and make advances to serve the anti-epidemic work for the people. Some units under the Ministry of Health themselves also had to do this," said Minister Dao Hong Lan.

The head of the health sector said that when the Covid-19 epidemic ends, some problems will arise due to the lack of legal regulations: "At this time, if we bid to pay in kind, biological products and medical supplies for epidemic prevention will be useless because the epidemic has ended. If we pay in cash, the question will arise, at what level and what source."

Minister Dao Hong Lan added that in the process of monitoring resources for Covid-19 prevention and control, Resolution 99 of the National Assembly also mentioned this content and assigned the Government to propose a solution. Implementing Resolution 99, the Government assigned the Ministry of Health to coordinate with ministries, branches and localities to have a specific plan. Up to this point (May 2024), the Ministry of Health has worked with ministries, branches and localities to synthesize how much and in what quantity it has actually borrowed.

Minister Dao Hong Lan informed: "Currently, the Ministry has collected statistics from 7 ministries, branches and 48 localities with a total amount of 1,693 billion VND. Of which, 754 billion is related to borrowing medicine and medical equipment; 938 billion is related to purchasing biological products for testing to prevent Covid-19 epidemic". The Minister of Health also emphasized that the Ministry of Health is currently synthesizing and building a Submission to the Government in May and June 2024.