Staff at a pharmacy in a hospital in Hà Nội. —VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

BẮC NINH — Measures to remove bottlenecks in bidding for purchasing drugs and medical equipment was the main topic of discussion at a conference held by the National Eye Hospital recently in Bắc Ninh Province.

At the event, representatives of public hospitals said that it was necessary to soon complete a guiding policy to implement the revised Bidding Law, effective from January 1, 2024.

Many public hospitals are currently experiencing a shortage of drugs and medical supplies because the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Planning and Investment are in the process of finalising policies to guide the implementation of new regulations from the new Bidding Law that took effect on January 1, 2024.

Although the Government issued Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP guiding the selection of contractors on February 27, the deputy director of the Department of Health of Bắc Ninh Province Đào Khắc Hùng said that Bắc Ninh Province’s public service agencies currently were still unable to carry out bidding for purchasing drugs, chemicals and medical equipment because there was no guiding circular.

According to Hùng, Bắc Ninh healthcare has had difficulties with the bidding process similar to those of the health industry nationwide. Bắc Ninh's health sector is waiting for specific circulars to guide the bidding process.

However, many bidding packages for the 2023-24 period are currently still valid, so the province is not yet short of drugs and supplies.

Deputy Director of the National Eye Hospital Phạm Ngọc Đông said that up to now the hospital's basic bidding packages had yielded results and the hospital had received supplies to be able to perform surgeries such as for cataracts and vitrectomy. However, some bidding packages did not have contractors participating or had contractors that participated but did not win the bid, so there was still a shortage of materials. There were even goods that did not meet quality standards after winning the bid, so the hospital had to refuse to accept the supplies to ensure patient safety.

“Decree 24 coming into effect is good news for hospitals as we have basic instructions for bidding, but during the process, we need more detailed instructions. For example, the new law allows facilities to choose medical supplies and equipment by country or territory. However, we need guidance on how to select appropriate groups of countries and territories to follow the law,” said Đông.

According to Director of HCM City Eye Hospital Lê Anh Tuấn the amended Bidding Law and Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP have many new points on bidding, especially in the medical field, which contribute to solving shortcomings. However, in practice, the bidding process has many difficulties because hospitals still cannot fully understand the new regulations.

Tuấn emphasised three issues that would need further guidance from the authorities through circulars, as well as measures to support medical facilities in implementing the new bidding law accurately and synchronously, to avoid problems of different understandings of definitions and terms among relevant agencies when working with hospitals.

“First, there is a need for circulars and instructions on the issue of selecting country groups and production origins in general in bidding. Current laws and decrees are still not clear enough for us to make the right choice according to the regulations and needs of specialist doctors,” said Tuấn.

“Second," Tuấn said, "there is a need for guidance on the new forms of bidding that hospitals do not have experience with, such as bidding on full-service provision packages. With this form of bidding, medical facilities can choose a complete supplier of equipment, chemicals and all accompanying warranty policies and supplies. This is a very good point of the law to avoid dependence on exclusive sources of materials. However, there currently are no hospitals nationwide with experience in this and we need guidance from ministries."

The third aspect, according to the director of the HCM City Eye Hospital, is that the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Health need to have a preliminary review or evaluation after implementing the new regulations on bidding for about six months or a year, so that hospitals can report their difficulties and problems encountered in practice and receive guidance on troubleshooting.

Head of Policy Division, Bidding Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment Hoàng Cương speaks at the event. —VNS Photo Thanh Hải

While representatives of hospitals said that there were still many bottlenecks in bidding for purchasing drugs and medical supplies, especially in the eye care field, a representative of the Bidding Management Department affirmed that the new bidding law had given more power to directors of public hospitals.

Head of Policy Division, Bidding Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment Hoàng Cương said that investors currently have enough legal framework to conduct bidding in the health field.

“The new bidding law has created a legal corridor to carry out bidding, which gives more power to public hospital directors. However, to carry out bidding work easily and synchronously, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Health are also urgently developing circulars and instructions to concretise Bidding Law No. 22/ 2023/QH15 and Decree No. 24/2024/NĐ-CP," said Cương.

Decree No. 24/2024/NĐ-CP, which details many articles and measures to implement the Bidding Law on selecting contractors, was recently issued by the Government and has new points to resolve difficulties and problems with bidding in the health sector, according to Cương.

"During the process of developing the law, we basically recognised the problems and difficulties in bidding in general and especially bidding in the health sector in particular, in order to have solutions in future laws and decrees," said Cương.

"The new law completely decentralises and essentially puts the investor in charge. The Ministry of Health will also decentralise public hospitals in the direction that in the near future hospital directors will make all decisions and be responsible for their own decisions,” stressed Cương.

Cương also emphasised the need for mechanisms to give full authority to hospital directors to ensure flexibility and autonomy of public medical facilities. However, this work needs to ensure compliance with State regulations.

Cương said that soon, the Ministry of Health would issue three circulars guiding the process of price negotiation, centralised procurement and drug bidding. The Ministry of Planning and Investment would also issue a directive on enhancing the role and responsibility of public service units in self-determination and self-responsibility in procurement work. — VNS