Addressing a forum in Hanoi on August 20, Tien pointed out the fact that up to 70 percent of the Vietnamese population are living in rural areas, and they need drugs to cure diseases rather than using costly, imported drugs.
If locally made drugs are prescribed, a number of patients, not one, will be treated at the same cost, said Tien.
She confirmed that besides newly manufactured drugs, doctors can prescribe home made medicines that have similar ingredients to the imported ones to effectively treat patients.
The Ministry of Health reported that imported drugs account for nearly 60 percent of those used in public hospitals and nearly 90 percent in centrally-run hospitals.
The use of antibiotics is still quite high, around 38 percent, which increases costs and antibiotic resistance among patients, especially at the provincial and district levels.
According to Vietnam Social Insurance, the cost of medicine accounts for 60 percent of the medical insurance fund.
To reduce Vietnam’s reliance on imported drugs, Minister Tien said the project “Vietnamese prioritise home-made drugs” has been launched since 2010 to support the domestic pharmaceutical industry and ensure a sufficient supply of drugs for treatment.
In her opinion, the medical sector should control the bidding process in hospitals, tighten market management, and strictly deal with violations of regulations on product and service quality.
In addition, she said businesses should be aware of their role and responsibility toward increasing the quality of products and services for the sake of people’s health.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has suggested Vietnam and Australia work harder to lift their bilateral ties to a new height while meeting with Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Anna Burke in Hanoi on May 22.
Vietnam always attaches importance to promoting friendship and all-round cooperation with the Republic of Korea (RoK), Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has said.