Ministry of Health 'gossip'

The Government Inspectorate has just concluded the inspection project of A / H5N1 influenza prevention and control project of the Ministry of Health. This conclusion shows that there are many hidden problems .

Drugs Tamiflu (Photo: NCT).

The Government has spent over VND 562 billion to buy reserves of 20 million tablets containing Oseltamivir phosphate (similar to Tamiflu drugs) to fight against influenza (including 10 million finished tablets and 10 million ingredients tablets), but the Ministry of Health lacks. check and monitor the implementation and settlement of contracts.

In the approved cost structure, there is a part spent on bioequivalence testing, but so far four manufacturers still have not tried, even though the Ministry of Health has paid half of the money. The negotiation of drug prices also has a series of things worth mentioning.

Proposing lack of reality

According to the inspection results, from the end of 2003 to the end of 2005, there were 91 cases of A / H5N1 influenza in the whole country, but in the report dated November 22, 2005, the Ministry of Health proposed again on June 30, 2006. must store 30 million tablets containing Oseltamivir phosphate, equivalent to 3 million therapeutic doses for 3 million patients.

From the advice, the proposal lacks a practical basis for the development in Vietnam has led to Vietnam not buying raw materials of Roche Company - Tamiflu research and development company - because Roche only supplies materials from the month. 8-2006. Notably, Roche's raw material has a 10-year shelf life, a cheaper price, while Vietnam buys Indian materials at twice the price, the shelf life is only three years.

Purchasing expensive materials, the Ministry of Health also ' remembers ' in negotiating drug prices with four companies participating in building drugs in Vietnam, including Phu Yen Pharmaceutical and Medical Supplies Company (Pymepharco), Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company. Cuu Long, Imexpharm Company and Stada VN Company.

The Government Inspectorate said the appraisal committee of qualified establishments involved in drug production did not perform the assigned task according to the Decision of November 17, 2005 of the Ministry of Health. Shown in the working minutes of the council with companies that do not have price negotiations, the working minutes without the signature of the company representative are checked, with no clear conclusions about the evaluation results. in each company.

While there has not been a report to the Minister of Health, the appraisal committee sent orders to four companies right at the examination in these units.

According to the Government Inspectorate, this is a form of ' appointment of contractors ' but the Ministry of Health does not send a document to the Ministry of Finance for appraisal and report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision before ordering.

Because the order does not record the unit price, the appraisal committee does not negotiate the price, which results in a passive product pricing, depending on the price of the companies proposing. In particular, the approved cost structure with a bioequivalence test is 17 dong / tablet, equivalent to over 333 million dong.

But by the time of the inspection (mid 2010), the companies have not yet conducted bioequivalence testing, while the Ministry of Health has transferred the payment money (over VND 165 million) for this purpose.

Hundreds of billions of dong is wasted

According to the Government Inspectorate, the Ministry of Health has paid four companies above the entire contract liquidation amount of over VND 562 billion. In March 2006, four companies completed production of over 9.7 million pills containing Oseltamivir phosphate with a shelf life of two years (expired in February 2008, after which the Ministry of Health extended one year). The remaining reserves in the form of materials and February 2009 also expired, the Ministry of Health has increased the shelf life by one year.

Great lesson in management

Talking to Youth, a Ministry of Health leader said that the Prime Minister will comment and direct the handling of violations related to the project to store Oseltamivir anti-influenza drugs at the Ministry of Health.But regardless of any form of treatment, loose management to cause waste and distrust of the people in a large project, which has the meaning of social security - reserve anti-epidemic drugs - is very worthwhile. Sorry.'This case is a great lesson in financial management, negotiating drug prices, medical supplies prices . in the Ministry of Health' - the leader said.

All drugs produced in the first phase expired from March 2009, being preserved at four companies and not yet processed. From the lack of practical proposals, passive in negotiating prices and buying short-term materials, hundreds of billions of dong has been wasted.

The Government Inspectorate also said that since four companies that purchased raw materials from India, the inspection agency did not have the conditions to verify at the sales company why in a short time the price of raw materials increased compared to the prices. Ministry of Health plans (17,500-18,000 USD / kg, while Ministry of Health's plan is 12,000 USD / kg).

The Government Inspectorate said that with the function of state management of drugs and drug prices, being assigned to buy anti-epidemic drugs, the Ministry of Health was irresponsible in assisting companies in finding materials, irresponsible in the inspection. examining and clarifying the financial expenditures and expenditures related to this project of one of the four participating companies, not yet conducted clinical trials and bioequivalence, so there is no basis to assess the treatment effect of the number of drugs is produced.

According to the Government Inspectorate, this shortcoming and wrongdoing are under the responsibility of the Minister of Health, the Director of the Drug Administration, and the Department of Financial Planning. Particularly, the Department of Science and Training (Ministry of Health) is responsible for delaying the issuance of guidelines for clinical trial of Oseltamivir 75mg capsules and guiding the establishment to implement,

The Institute of Testing has a shortcoming in not yet building a bioequivalence testing process for this product.

For the four companies involved in production, despite receiving more than $ 6 million from suppliers of raw materials, but did not report to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance. The Government Inspectorate requested that three companies involved in drug production are Imexpharm, Stada VN, Pymepharco to repay the state budget of more than USD 2.8 million received from material suppliers.

The inspector also asked to transfer the investigating agency to clarify the purchase price of raw materials of four companies and the amount of over 3.8 million USD held by Cuu Long Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company from the supplier of raw materials but to report outside. finance.