Members of the National Assembly Standing Committee meet on Tuesday morning to discuss national stockpiles. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

 
HÀ NỘI — National Assembly Standing Committee members have agreed to add medical supplies and equipment to the list of essential goods the State holds in reserve in case of emergency.

The Government will decide which medical supplies and equipment should be stockpiled, such as medicine for disease prevention and control and disinfectant.

It will also assign key tasks to the ministries of health and finance along with relevant agencies to manage the supplies.

Finance Minister Đinh Tiến Dũng said on Tuesday that it was necessary to add medical supplies and equipment to the national stockpiles.

“During the complicated development of COVID-19, medical supply reserves and equipment at grassroots healthcare centres failed to meet the demand,” Dũng said, adding that proper stockpiles would help Việt Nam more actively and effectively respond to emergency cases like diseases and natural disasters, while ensuring social order and security.  

Chairman of the NA’s Finance and Budget Committee Nguyễn Đức Hải said that currently 12 categories of goods were stockpiled in the national reserves, excluding medical supplies and equipment.

Stockpiling medical supplies and equipment satisfied the criteria regulated in both the Law on National Reserves and the Law on Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Hải said.

Also at the meeting, NA Standing Committee members agreed with the Government’s proposal to spend VNĐ274 billion from the State budget to restock national rice reserves.

According to finance minister Dũng, from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020, the ministry allocated 23,000 tonnes of relief rice for people affected by natural disasters and diseases across the country and rice was also given to people on Tết (lunar new year) and those facing hunger after the harvest.

In April, Việt Nam gave Cuba 5,000 tonnes of rice to help the country solve its food difficulties amid the fight against the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Agreeing with the proposal, NA deputies asked the Government to direct relevant ministries and agencies to buy and manage the national stockpiles lawfully and effectively. VNS