After being approved by the National Assembly on October 21, 2022, new health minister Dao Hong Lan mentioned three most important tasks of the health sector to be solved in the coming time as follows:
- Protecting achievements against COVID-19
- Improving the quality of medical examination and treatment
- Solving the shortage of medicine and medical supplies
1. Protecting achievements against COVID-19:
Currently, many diseases are occurring in Vietnam such as COVID-19, seasonal flu, dengue fever, hand, foot, and mouth disease. The epidemic is always complicated and unpredictable, the risk of epidemic overlap is existing. Therefore, protecting the achievements against the COVID-19 epidemic is considered one of the most priority tasks.
2. Improving the quality of medical examination and treatment
The Ministry of Health has recently reviewed and summarized the results and limitations, especially issues related to the legal system and institutions in the health system. Some, including the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, have been submitted to the Government Office and National Assembly for being perfectioned and approved. With a large scope of influence, this is a very important law project affecting all people in Vietnam. The completion of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment will contribute to helping the Vietnamese health segment improve people's health care.
In addition, the decree on allowances for medical staff has also been appraised by the Ministry of Justice and will be submitted to the Government Office. This is to encourage health workers, especially at the grassroots level, the frontline healthcare workers so that the quality of medical examination and treatment can be maintained and improved in the future.
3. Focusing on solving the recent shortage of drugs and medical supplies
To solve the recent shortage of drugs and medical supplies, the immediate solution proposed by the Ministry of Health is to strengthen the issuance of circulation permits for drugs, medical devices. At the same time, the Ministry of Health also focused on summarizing Resolution 30/2021 to extend the duration of the circulation of drugs as well as accelerate the speed of centralized procurement and negotiation of drug prices. At the same time, the Ministry of Health continues to accompany localities and hospitals to remove difficulties and obstacles.
In the long term, the Ministry of Health is actively coordinating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to consider adding regulations related to bidding for drugs, medical devices by revising Bidding Law. In addition, the Law on Pharmacy and the Law on Health Insurance are also being revised to overcome the current shortage of drugs and medical supplies.