According to Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, the supervision of medicine pricing remains a complicated matter due to the lack of a body in the ministry responsible for the work.
She proposed that the duty be assigned to the Ministry of Finance.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said a trans-sectoral mechanism run by a management council chaired by the Ministry of Health is necessary to ensure the interests of patients are met.
Sharing Dam’s opinion, Deputy PMs Vu Van Ninh and Nguyen Xuan Phuc said a national council headed by the Minister of Health should bear the responsibility of medicine price management for citizens.
Concluding the discussion, PM Dung reiterated the importance of state management over pharmaceutical prices, as well as the necessity of an effective management structure with input from all relevant ministries.
He said establishing a national council for medicine price management is crucial. The draft revised Pharmaceuticals Law should promulgate issues of principle, and the Government will provide specific regulations, he said.
During the session, the cabinet members also debated three more bills: the draft revised Law on the Management and Use of State Capital Invested in Production and Business, the Law on Investment, and the Law on Enterprises.-VNA
