HCM City licensed to import rare drugs without waiting for ministry

11/08/2024 00:24

The Government has given HCM City the green light to license the import of rare drugs to meet special treatment needs instead of depending on the Ministry of Health.

Patients are waiting to buy medicine at a hospital in HCM City. - Photo tuoitre.vn

HCM CITY – The Government has given HCM City the green light to license the import of rare drugs to meet special treatment needs instead of depending on the Ministry of Health.

They include drugs used to diagnose, prevent or treat group A infectious diseases such as polio, influenza A-H5N1 and plague, cancer, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and some other serious diseases.

The city will also even have the right to grant import licences for drugs otherwise not licensed in Việt Nam tomeet treatment needs for emergency use such as anti-toxicity, anti-transplant rejection, and prevent and treat anaphylactic shock.

The director of its Department of Health, Tăng Chí Thượng, said a licensing regime is being developed for the purpose.

Such licensing used to be the health ministry’s prerogative.

Pharmaceutical companies often aggregate demand from a number of localities to apply for import licenses, which takes a lot of time, often several months. So, allowing the city to import would circumvent that problem Thượng said.

The city is home to many large hospitals and receives serious cases from many other provinces and cities.

In recent times imports of rare drugs and those used in emergencies have faced difficulties, leading to shortages.

As the intensive treatment centre for the entire south and even some central provinces, ensuring it has timely and sufficient supply of drugs has become an indispensable need.

The health department has instructed hospitals to work with pharmaceutical companies to get drug import licenses.

The city will proactively monitor the situation and help businesses import promptly.

Import licenses issued by the city are valid for one year.

His department would also advise the City to trial stockpiling of emergency and rare drugs since they cannot wait for import procedures to be carried out periodically, Thượng added. – VNS

Theo vietnamnews.vn
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1660973/hcm-city-licensed-to-import-rare-drugs-without-waiting-for-ministry.html
Copy Link
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1660973/hcm-city-licensed-to-import-rare-drugs-without-waiting-for-ministry.html
    • Top Vietnamese leader concludes official visit to Malaysia
      General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee Tô Lâm, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of Việt Nam left Kuala Lumpur at noon on November 23, wrapping up their three-day official visit to Malaysia, at the invitation of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his spouse.
    • First Vietnamese scientist named at UK’s TechWomen 100 Awards
      With outstanding achievements in biotechnology, Nguyễn Thụy Bá Linh from University College London (UCL) has become the first Vietnamese scientist to win the UK's TechWomen 100 Awards.
    • Vietnam honours Japan’s Sojitz, Sumitomo Corporations
      The Vietnamese Embassy in Japan held a ceremony on November 22 to present the Prime Minister's certificates of merit to Sojitz Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation in recognition of their contributions to Vietnam-Japan friendship and cooperation.
    • Vietnam, Japan strengthen cooperation to develop agricultural supply chains
      A seminar on connecting agricultural supply chains was held in Hanoi on November 22, promoting agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and Japan.
    • SPRINT Project launched in Yen Bai to empower ethnic minority women
      The Yen Bai provincial Cooperative Alliance joined forces with the Cowater International of Canada to launch the “SMEs Promote Resilience, Inclusion and Innovation Transformation” (SPRINT) Project on November 22.
    • Clean for a better tomorrow
      "Cleaning Hoàn Kiếm Lake with Ninomiya" is a group of volunteers who clean up litter from Hoàn Kiếm Lake every Sunday morning. Inspired by the action of Tohru Ninomiya, who started this activity over 10 years ago, many banded together to act and spread this model to other areas.
    Highlighted VietBao
    Don't miss
    HCM City licensed to import rare drugs without waiting for ministry
    POWERED BY ONECMS - A PRODUCT OF NEKO