VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Health has shown evidences
to prove that the drug prices in Vietnam are not high. However, people believe
that the ministry’s argument is not convincing.
Survey method doubtful
In order to prove that the drug
prices in Vietnam are not high, a group of officials from MOH and other
relevant ministries has conducted a survey on the drug prices in the region.
The survey has found out that the
prices of some specifics with the same commercial names, active substances,
concentrations and contents such as Rocephin, Zinat 250 mg (500 mg), Augmetin
BD, Pulmicort, Diamicron MR, Vastarel MR, Adalat LA, Crestor, Xeloda, Cellcept,
Durogesic, Smecta in China and Thailand are 1-6 times higher than in Vietnam.
However, a pharmacist has pointed
out that it is insufficient to compare drug prices just based on commercial
names, active substances, concentrations and contents. He said that the prices
of the same products and the same producers would still be different, if they
are made in different countries.
“Let’s take Zithromax of Pfizer
as an example. The prices of products made in Italia and the US would be
different from that of the products made in India or China. That explains why
Vietnam has been importing the same products from different sources to
stabilize some kinds of expensive medicine,” he said.
Other experts have also said that
the MOH’s survey result is not convincing, because the ministry has only
surveyed the prices of 36 products out of the 10,000 products available on the
market, which means that the 36 products do not exactly reflect the current
situation of the drug market.
Medicine prices getting chaotic
A physician in Hanoi has revealed
that patients now have to buy drugs at the prices which are tens or hundreds of
times higher than the original prices. A new unfamiliar medicine product would
not be able to exist on the market without the “support of physicians” in
prescription.
This explains why some products
with the same active substances made in Vietnam and India have the prices
double the products made in Australia and France. “Why have been the drugs with
the sky high prices sold well if they have not been pushed up by some
influential power?” he said.
A lot of surveys conducted by
independent institutions have pointed out that drugs have been going through
different intermediaries, which is considered a “method” helping push the
prices up.
Maxazith Suspension 20 ml
(Azithromycin), sourced from Bangladesh, for example, had the cost price of
16,000 dong per box at Vietnam’s ports. However, the products, after going
through the three import companies, they were sold to hospitals at 92,000 dong
per box, and hospitals retailed to patients at 107,000 dong per box, which is 7
times higher than the import price.
The drug prices in Vietnam have
been escalating continuously. The Pharmaceutical Companies Association VNPCA
has released a report, showing that domestically made drugs have seen the
prices increasing by 9.37 percent, while import drugs by 6.4 percent.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Lam, a
senior official of the Drug Administration under MOH, in an interview given to
Nguoi lao dong, has denied the fact that medicine prices have been fluctuating
heavily recently.
Lam said that the reports by the
General Statistics Office and the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s taskforce on
the domestic market management all showed that the drug market has been stabilized
with no sudden sharp price increases.
The reports said that the
medicine price increased only by 2.08 percent in the first six months of 2012,
the 9th sharpest increase among the 11 key categories of goods. The increase
was also lower than the general CPI increase of 2.52 percent.
Source: NLD
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